Based on the 2014 science fiction mystery-thriller novel by celebrated sci-fi author William Gibson (Neuromancer), The Peripheral starred Chloë Grace Moretz as Flynne Fisher, a small-town woman trying to make ends meet in the not-so-distant future. Her luck begins to turn when she develops a secret connection to an alternate reality.
The series debuted on October 22 to strong reviews, achieving a 79% critic score from Rotten Tomatoes.
A second season renewal was given by Amazon in February 2023, however, Prime Video recently reversed course and decided to cancel the show, citing the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. Preproduction on a second season had begun in May, right before the WGA went on strike.
Developed by Westworld creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, The Peripheral is the first high-profile television series to be canceled due to the ongoing strikes by the actors and writers guild.
Amazon was said to be skittish on canceling The Peripheral as it did not want to upset Joy and Nolan, who are currently developing an adaptation of the Fallout video game series for the streamer.
However, mounting costs due to holding sound stages and the overall impact the strike is having on rollout scheduling were the two main contributors to the show's cancelation.
Deadline notes that the show's cancelation could be the first in a looming wave that begins if the strikes are not resolved before Labor Day.
The Peripheral centers on Flynne Fisher, a woman trying to hold together the pieces of her broken family in a forgotten corner of tomorrow's America. Flynne is smart, ambitious, and doomed. She has no future. Until the future comes calling for her. The Peripheral is master storyteller William Gibson’s dazzling, hallucinatory glimpse into the fate of mankind — and what lies beyond.