Apple TV’s Neuromancer Has A Timeless Advantage Over Blade Runner

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The upcoming Apple TV series based on the cyberpunk novel Neuromancer may have a significant advantage over the classic film, Blade Runner.

2026 is shaping up to be a huge year for cyberpunk fans, with both Apple TV’s Neuromancer and Prime Video’s Blade Runner 2099 scheduled to debut. Blade Runner 2099 has an advantage, though – it’s part of a well-established and highly praised film series, giving it an existing fanbase and a history in live-action that Neuromancer doesn’t share.

Despite being a bold and potentially risky sci-fi series, the new Apple TV show appears to have a major edge over the entire Blade Runner saga.

Unlike Blade Runner, Neuromancer Avoids Revealing Its Timeline

The original Blade Runner film was set in 2019, a future that seemed distant when the movie came out. Now, decades later, we’ve surpassed that timeline, and it’s hard not to see how some of the movie’s ideas haven’t held up over time. Of course, Blade Runner is a fictional story, so it’s not really meant to be judged against reality.

It’s difficult to avoid comparing a movie or show’s depiction of the future to reality when it’s set in a specific time period.

Prime Video’s new Blade Runner series, despite being set in the distant future, shares a challenge with the original movie: its vision of the future might not seem accurate as time goes on. However, Apple TV’s Neuromancer doesn’t have this same limitation.

No fixed timeline is mentioned in William Gibson’s original Neuromancer book.

When William Gibson wrote the novel, he imagined it taking place in the 2030s, but he deliberately didn’t specify a precise timeline. He did this to prevent the story from feeling dated, unlike the film Blade Runner. It remains to be seen if the upcoming Apple TV series Neuromancer will follow the same strategy, but given Gibson’s involvement, it’s likely the series will build on the book’s strength of not having a fixed point in time.

The Lack Of A Fixed Timeline In Neuromancer Makes It Feel More Timeless Than Blade Runner

It’s common for science fiction to establish a clear timeline, but Neuromancer actually benefits from not doing so. If the story had been set in a specific future year, it would be easier to point out its inaccuracies. While Neuromancer accurately predicted things like the ethical dilemmas of artificial intelligence and the internet, it didn’t foresee the popularity of smartphones, and a fixed timeline would make that omission more noticeable.

What I really appreciate is that the film doesn’t explicitly tell you when it’s happening. It’s not a flaw at all, honestly. It feels intentional – like the filmmakers are building a world that’s different from our own, but still manages to reflect truths about the world we live in today. It’s a clever way to use metaphor, and it really works.

Unlike other films in the Blade Runner series, Neuromancer consistently feels like it takes place in a continuous, ongoing future. This creates a sense of adaptability and enduring relevance that the new Apple TV series should also capture.

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2026-01-01 05:58