Tim Miller set to helm adaptation of William Gibson’s Neuromancer

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Sure, it was a bit of a disappointment when Tim Miller dropped out of directing DEADPOOL 2 over creative differences, but the director has certainly had no issue with lining up projects following his exit from the upcoming sequel. Per Deadline, the latest project which Miller will be adding to his slate will be an adaptation of "Neuromancer," William Gibson's classic cyberpunk novel.

After departing the DEADPOOL sequel, it was said that Fox was working hard to find a major project which Tim Miller and his VFX studio, Blur, would be able to build from the ground up; NEUROMANCER will apparently be that project. The novel was William Gibson's first, and went on to win the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and the Hugo Award. A feature-film adaptation of "Neuromancer" has been attempted several times before, with directors such as Joseph Kahn (TORQUE) and Vincenzo Natali (SPLICE) attached at various points, but it's been some time since we last heard about the project. Fox will soon set a writer to adapt the story, but as Tim Miller has several projects already in the works, who knows when production on NEUROMANCER will begin.

Here's the logline for NEUROMANCER according to Deadline: "Case was one of the best console cowboys until he stole from one of his employers, who in turn damaged his nervous system so that he cannot access cyberspace anymore. Broke and destroying himself, Case is contacted by Molly, a heavily modified razorgirl, to work for a shadowy colonel who needs a cyberspace cowboy for a secret mission. The employer fixes Case’s damaged brain, but implants a slow dissolving poison to make sure the cyberspace wiz does his bidding, in attempting to abduct a perverse psychopath who is able to create holograms with the force of his mind."

Tim Miller is also working on an adaptation of Daniel Suarez's "Influx" with Mark Bomback (WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES), a live-action/animated SONIC THE HEDGEHOG film, and has teamed up with James Cameron to reboot the TERMINATOR franchise. Cameron is due to regain certain rights to THE TERMINATOR soon and is hoping to reinvent the franchise with a new trilogy. Once the issues of the rights to the franchise are resolved, it's expected that production will begin as soon as possible, so THE TERMINATOR reboot will likely be Tim Miller's next project.

A synopsis of "Neuromancer" via Amazon:

Henry Dorsett Case was the sharpest data-thief in the business, until vengeful former employees crippled his nervous system. But now a new and very mysterious employer recruits him for a last-chance run. The target: an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence orbiting Earth in service of the sinister Tessier-Ashpool business clan. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, mirror-eyed street-samurai, to watch his back, Case embarks on an adventure that ups the ante on an entire genre of fiction.

Thumbnail and header art by Josan Gonzalez.