Apple TV’s Upcoming Sci-Fi Series Is Pretty Close To A Live-Action Cyberpunk 2077

Apple TV+ has an upcoming science fiction show that’s basically already a live-action adaptation of Cyberpunk 2077. Though Cyberpunk: Edgerunners already brought the franchise onto the small screen, Apple TV+’s Neuromancer is probably the closest the series will ever get to a live-action adaptation. Based on the novel Neuromancer by William Gibson, Apple TV+’s upcoming show should appeal to Cyberpunk 2077 fans.

That’s largely because Neuromancer is widely considered one of the foundational cyberpunk stories that helped establish the genre, alongside Blade Runner. As with every cyberpunk story since 1984, Cyberpunk 2077 was inspired by Neuromancer, but the full extent of that inspiration may not be common knowledge. In fact, Apple TV+’s take on Neuromancer is essentially a live-action version of Cyberpunk 2077.

Cyberpunk 2077 Was Heavily Inspired By Neuromancer

Cyberpunk 2077 and the tabletop role-playing game that serves as its foundation, were both heavily inspired by William Gibson’s Neuromancer. Mike Pondsmith, the original creator of Cyberpunk, claims that he only read Neuromancer after developing the TTRPG (via Dicebreaker), but Gibson’s novel was so influential that it made its way into Cyberpunk anyway. The sheer scale of how much Cyberpunk borrows from Neuromancer is fairly plain to see.

Several key elements of Cyberpunk 2077 have direct counterparts in Neuromancer. Both stories take place in a town named Night City, both worlds heavily feature black market body modifications, and both prominently feature a seedy cyberpunk bar, the Chatsubo and the Afterlife, respectively. Cyberpunk‘s concept of netrunners, hackers who upload their consciousness into a digital cyberspace, is also lifted directly from Neuromancer‘s concept of cyber cowboys.

Even the protagonists and stories of Neuromancer and Cyberpunk 2077 have a huge number of similarities. Case’s central nervous system was damaged by an all-powerful corporation, and before he’s enlisted in a massive heist to repair it and allow him back into cyberspace, he works as a low-level mercenary. V’s shard slot is damaged during a heist and their brain starts being overwritten by a malicious piece of technology created by the all-powerful corporation Araska. To save their own life, V must take on a series of deadly missions as a mercenary.

Even if Mike Pondsmith himself was only influenced by Neuromancer through cultural osmosis and the later novel Hardwired by Walter John Williams, it’s clear that CD Projekt Red, the studio behind Cyberpunk 2077, was directly influenced by Gibson’s novel. Details obviously differ, and Cyberpunk is also influenced by other cyberpunk stories like Blade Runner, but the proof is self-evident. Neuromancer is essentially the blueprint for Cyberpunk.

Does Apple TV’s Neuromancer Make A Future Live-Action Cyberpunk 2077 Series Redundant?

With Apple TV+ making a live-action adaptation of Neuromancer, a story that essentially serves as the grandfather of Cyberpunk 2077 and its direct inspiration, the upcoming television show may make another adaptation of the game redundant. A live-action adaptation of Cyberpunk 2077 was announced in 2024, but with Apple TV+’s adaptation of Neuromancer slotted for late 2026, it might not be worth it anymore.

There was already a case to be made that a live-action version of Cyberpunk 2077 was redundant. The story has already been told in a very cinematic and visually pleasing video game, and it’s only six years old at this point. Cyberpunk: Edgeunners has also already brought the world of Mike Pondsmith’s TTRPG to the small screen. Now, Neuromancer is set to put a very similar story and world to the small screen.

How much interest is there going to be in a Cyberpunk 2077 show or movie when Neuromancer beat them to the punch? Cyberpunk genre fans looking for an innovative take on hacking, on mega-powerful corporations, on a rainy and fully realized Night City won’t have to wait for Cyberpunk 2077, they’ll have it in Neuromancer. Neuromancer‘s Case even scratches the itch of seeing V’s story and fight for survival put to film in live-action.

To put it more simply, why should cyberpunk fans wait for a show that was inspired by Neuromancer when the blueprint itself is coming out in less than a year? Personally, I still think an adaptation of Cyberpunk 2077 would have a lot to offer, and I’m excited to see it myself. However, the news of Neuromancer being adapted by Apple TV+ has certainly made me less anxious to see Cyberpunk 2077 on the small screen.