Dune: Prophecy's Mark Strong joins Neuromancer show at Apple TV+

William Gibson's seminal cyberpunk novel Neuromancer is being turned into a TV show, and it just added some strong star-power to its cast.

Mark Strong in Dune: Prophecy episode 6.
Mark Strong in Dune: Prophecy episode 6. | Photograph courtesy of HBO

Apple TV+ has quietly carved out a niche for itself in the streaming wars as the go-to platform for mind-bending science fiction. Silo, Severance, For All Mankind, Foundation...the streamer's catalog is growing ever larger, and the message is clear: sci-fi nerds, be welcome here. Soon we'll have yet another huge science fiction series to watch there: Neuromancer, based on the groundbreaking 1984 cyberpunk novel by William Gibson.

The cast for Neuromancer is filling out. Deadline reports that the latest addition to the show is Mark Strong, who most recently appeared in Max's Dune: Prophecy as Emperor Javicco Corino. Strong is an amazing actor, so this is an obvious boon for Neuromancer. He'll play Armitage, a mysterious man who offer's the show's heroes — super-hacker Case (Callum Turner) and his razor-girl assassin partner Molly (Brianna Middleton) — the job of a lifetime: a daring heist against a mighty corporation. In addition to Strong, Turner, and Middleton, Neuromancer also stars Joseph Lee as professional bodyguard Hideo.

Neuromancer could be one of the next big sci-fi shows

Neuromancer is one of the foundational novels of the cyberpunk genre. For anyone who's played Cyberpunk 2077, you'll find a lot of familiar trappings here, as desperate technology-enhanced criminals go toe-to-toe with oppressively powerful corporations, all while trying not to catch a bullet in the back. The fact that Apple is making a Neuromancer show feels like a huge get; if they pull it off, this is one which will make waves.

Neuromancer is being created for television by Graham Roland and JD Dillard, with Roland slated to serve as showrunner and Dillard directing the show's pilot episode. Roland was also the creator of Dark Winds on AMC, a Navajo crime series based on the works of Tony Hillerman which is produced by George R.R. Martin. That show has gone over very well with viewers, so it's encouraging he's attached to Neuromancer as well. The series is being co-produced Skydance Television, Anonymous Content and Apple Studios.

The last time Gibson's novels were adapted for the screen was the 2022 sci-fi series The Peripheral on Prime Video. Despite having an excellent first season and being renewed for a second, Amazon later back-tracked and canceled it, using the Hollywood strikes as an excuse. (Inside reports cite the cost of the series as the primary reason it got the axe.) Here's hoping Neuromancer fares better at Apple.

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