The Peripheral
Created by Scott B. Smith
Stuck in a small Appalachian town, a young woman’s only escape from the daily grind is playing advanced video games. She is such a good player that a company sends her a new video game system to test…but it has a surprise in store. It unlocks all of her dreams of finding a purpose, romance, and glamour in what seems like a game…but it also puts her and her family in real danger. From TMDB
239 reactions from 3 sources (Bluesky, Mastodon, TMDB reviews) · newest Oct 14, 2026 · last updated Oct 14, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
Sentiment labels for these sources are still being hand-checked; no score yet.
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bluesky * | 57 | 5 | 88 |
| Mastodon * | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| TMDB reviews * | 1 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
83 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
20 archived X posts (Mar–Apr 2026) are kept for the record and not used.
What people are saying
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Critics, per Wikipedia
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 78% approval rating with an average rating of 6.7/10, based on 54 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Somewhere on the edges of this sci-fi vision is a compelling narrative, but The Peripheral's single-minded focus on its lofty ideas comes at the expense of character or coherence." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 57 out of 100 based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 239 · most liked firstSomething that some readers may have forgotten is that The Peripheral and Agency are both set in the same universe, in which Hillary won. Those who’ve only seen The Peripheral series will have no idea of this at all.
neutral · AI labelView post →Hey, I'm two eps into The Peripheral on Amazon and it's great. Maybe the best sci-fi TV show I've seen in the last ten years. None of this "It takes three episodes to get into it " pacing bullshit, A+ actors, the production design makes me want to cry.
positive · AI labelView post →FLYNNE: What they used to call reality shows? NETHERTON: I don’t know. Why'd they stop calling them that? F: Because it got to be all there is. N: Yes. She’s descended from that. Reality TV. It merged w/politics & performance art. F: I think that already happened, back home. — The Peripheral (2014!)
neutral · AI labelView post →I'm crashing, everything is ok Sci-fi Series Favorites All the Star Treks, Star Wars, and Stargates Babylon 5 Farscape Red Dwarf Lexx The Outer Limits The Peripheral The Orville Firefly Doctor Who The Expanse Battlestar Galactica Orphan Black The X-files Godzilla / kaiju movies
neutral · AI labelView post →I was on a show (THE PERIPHERAL) that got renewed late. Then Amazon changed their mind and cancelled it shortly after. That's the worst of both worlds.
negative · AI labelView post →That cancelled TV show you'll never stop thinking about Also Infinity Train, Lockwood & Co, and The Peripheral,
neutral · AI labelView post →The Peripheral was a fantastic book, and the TV show is a fantastic adaptation that becomes its own thing in a really thoughtful manner. I recommend it like heck.
positive · AI labelView post →That cancelled TV show you'll never stop thinking about. The Peripheral had the potential to be an epic sci fi series.
neutral · AI labelView post →keeps reminding me of that Jackpot concept from that show The Peripheral, a series of bad things happening at once thanks to kleptocrats.
neutral · AI labelView post →Posting this open casting call for a project I’m producing. 🎥🍿 #CastingCall The Peripheral Man When Lucas wakes trapped in an overturned car, he must solve a series of puzzles in order to survive a deadly battle of wits. Please send details and reels to: [email protected]
neutral · AI labelView post →Name a tv show with 2 or fewer seasons. Initially renewed for a second season, The Peripheral was cancelled after the strikes. 😥
neutral · AI labelView post →Watching “The Peripheral” again. So disappointing that the series was cancelled - it could have been a contender…!
positive · AI labelView post →Worst sci-fi series cancellation: Farscape or Firefly? (Sorry, but neither The Sarah Connor Chronicles or The Peripheral got enough of a chance to make the list.)
neutral · AI labelView post →I've been thinking a lot lately about his concept of the Jackpot in The Peripheral: a series of independent calamities of various degrees that cumulatively resulted in total societal collapse.
neutral · AI labelView post →As I look at London, I keep being reminded of the image of 2090 London from the TV series The Peripheral, based on @greatdismal's novel. To someone from the London of even a century ago, this is just what today's London would feel like.
neutral · AI labelView post →My Top 10 Sci-fi movie/TV franchises: 1. The Expanse 2. Babylon 5 3. Star Trek: Original Series 4. Firefly 5. Futurama 6. Bladerunner 7. Lower Decks 8. The Peripheral 9. Star Wars: A New Hope 10. The Mandalorian
neutral · AI labelView post →Well now we have to take a moment to mourn The Peripheral series.
positive · AI labelView post →Had a blast on @hostsintheshell.bsky.social recently talking with @jonrichter.bsky.social & @cleric20.bsky.social about William Gibson's The Peripheral & the Amazon series based on it. There are spoilers for both so read AND watch before you dive in! hostsintheshell.buzzsprout.com/1930485/epis...
neutral · AI labelView post →ugh, so disappointed over amazing sci-fi series getting canceled with no reasoning. Night Sky, The Peripheral, and now Outer Range which could have garnered huge followings if given the time and space to finish their stories. Did no one learn from DARK?!
positive · AI labelView post →Nice. I'm rereading my disintegrating (AND signed, please don't be super jelly.... okay go ahead it's way cool) copy of Neuromancer ahead of the new show coming out. I liked what they did with the Peripheral well enough so I'm trying to feel positive.
neutral · AI labelView post →The Peripheral (book, not so much TV show) absolutely nailed several things to an uncanny degree
neutral · AI labelView post →They should pick up The Peripheral, I loved that show.
positive · AI labelView post →Listening to the audiobook of THE PERIPHERAL and furious all over again that we never got a second season, god that show was good
positive · AI labelView post →As much as I am looking forward to this, I'm a bit sad that S2 of The Peripheral - which Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy were at the helm of - got ditched. www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/20...
positive · AI labelView post →'Mega Karen Vs Woke Vegan Space Collective' is a daft way to describe Pluribus, but It does tickle me. Some fantastic sci-fi with that quality Apple TV show gloss I enjoyed in The Peripheral & Severance. I do wish it was a book though, cos I'm not about waiting 10 years for a series to finish.
positive · AI labelView post →If we're counting streaming series, then my biggest frustration is The Peripheral. Loved it. It was briefly green lit for a second season before that was cancelled.
positive · AI labelView post →The Peripheral, to my great disappointment. The book is phenomenal, and the series was doing interesting things, and we'd FINALLY met Ainsley Lowbeer, who is IMHO the most interesting person in the book.
neutral · AI labelView post →I’m enjoying The Peripheral by William Gibson. It’s been a slow reading month, but excited to rewatch the TV series after I’m done. (One of my favorite things to do 😂)
positive · AI labelView post →How did I miss the news that The Peripheral is not coming back even though it had been renewed originally 😩 I just re-watched season 1 last week
positive · AI labelView post →Take as long as you need, but I'm very excited for it. I loved the Peripheral show too. ☺️
positive · AI labelView post →The cancellation of The Peripheral was a damned shame. It was a show that had a lot of potential.
positive · AI labelView post →There's a good show on Amazon called "the Peripheral".. pretty damn accurate vision of what the future looks like a controlling group is called the kleptos and they are the wealthy who survived the jackpot the dystopian destruction of most civilization... A Kleptocracy..sound familiar
positive · AI labelView post →So: I thought Amazon's "The Peripheral" series started really strong and has strong performances, but really lost its way in the back nine. Where it diverged from the book, it almost uniformly made things blunter, less interesting, and dumber.
neutral · AI labelView post →Still upset that they cancelled The Peripheral (gave it a second season and took it away). It was such a great show, and they were going to use one of my Tweets to promote S2.
positive · AI labelView post →Finally have the time and head-space for the Peripheral television show--what an incredible production. Sad they didn't get to do a second season. I dig the idea that the show is another stub in the multiverse of the novel.
positive · AI labelView post →Can't wait. Hope it survives longer than The Peripheral got to! variety.com/2024/tv/news... #Cyberpunk
neutral · AI labelView post →I so so love when social media just offers up my people like this. Such a good show. SUCH A GOOD SHOW. Honestly, a decent number of shows on that platform don’t get the kudos they deserve. (The Peripheral comes to mind.)
positive · AI labelView post →If you could get Apple to pickup The Peripheral, too, that would be amazing. Few abruptly terminated series more deserving
positive · AI labelView post →Kept thinking the whole time that the Queen Marlena actress looked familiar, turns out she’s Aelita West from The Peripheral (passionately love this show) and Nance from Edge of Tomorrow!
positive · AI labelView post →Such a shame that The Peripheral tv series didn't get to continue. I thought it was one of the best adaptations I've seen in a long time.
positive · AI labelView post →I have a new essay on the Peripheral TV show and the Dune films coming out this year in 'Science Fiction Film and Television'--hoping it will get a good reception.
neutral · AI labelView post →Apparently, a series adaptation of his *iconic* first novel, Neuromancer, is in the works & i am *hoping and praying* that it'll be as good as The Peripheral series, & that it won't get fucking cancelled prematurely this time
positive · AI labelView post →I suggest the absolutely prescient William Gibson novels The Peripheral and Agency . The book is sooo much better than the series amzn.to/40pmvCK
negative · AI labelView post →This is one of the central theses of William Gibson’s “The Peripheral” (book, not tv series)
neutral · AI labelView post →The reaction to the 2020 Pandemic, oddly enough, happened in 2014. The 2014 novels Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel, and The Peripheral by William Gibson, were both about horrific worldwide pandemics. The Station Eleven HBO series was greenlit in 2019 & began filming ONE MONTH before lockdown!
neutral · AI labelView post →In Memoriam for a beautiful show. #theperipheral #scifi #tvsky https://vimeo.com/763586293/description
neutral · AI labelView post →Recent shows I wish had a second shot of life: The Peripheral Shadow and Bone and the planned “Crows“ series Wonder Man Mindhunter Spider Noir
positive · AI labelView post →Really enjoyed post-cyberpunk superheroes novel JUICY GHOSTS. Darkly amusng political satire (where is wise old Gee when we need him in IRL?), and slick futurism about bio-engineer turned vengeful-goddess Molly. Since Gibson's The Peripheral was fine TV show, I'm sure Rucker's book could be a movie!
positive · AI labelView post →Amazon did a great job on The Peripheral - great cast, smart script, looked fantastic. And then Amazon cancelled it. Kaos, from Netflix, was another great series, intelligent, fun, excellent cast. And then Netflix cancelled it. Maybe Apple's trick is to commit to its productions?
positive · AI labelView post →The Peripheral, canceled after one season. Wheel of Time, canceled after 3 seasons.* New Slayer series, canceled after the pilot. Ponies, canceled after one season. *Lucky I guess that it went that far at least. This sucks. I was anjoying all those shows and looking forward to the Buffy sequel.
positive · AI labelView post →They’re making a Neuromancer show?! They already broke my heart by canceling The Peripheral which I thought was a good adaptation.
positive · AI labelView post →Another tv series. Multiple seasons of The Peripheral.
neutral · AI labelView post →I have seen the remains of these statues in an SF series a while back. Ah. I recall now it now: The Peripheral
neutral · AI labelView post →Recommended sci-fi TV series: The Peripheral www.imdb.com/title/tt8291... It’s a shame it was canceled after only one season, but the season finale works reasonably well as a series finale.
positive · AI labelView post →There's an answer! A lot of folks probably know @greatdismal.bsky.social and his sf novel "The Peripheral"? There was a TV show. Anyway, characters far in our future talk about "the Jackpot," the twenty-first century period of famine, plague and war, etc etc. Leaves humanity a lot smaller.
neutral · AI labelView post →There should be another William Gibson book in the Peripheral series some time soon, but I don't know if I have the heart to read it if it comes out.
neutral · AI labelView post →Of course I’m excited for the Neuromancer TV show, which is something I’ve wanted to see happen for decades, but even still I’d trade it in a heartbeat for more of The Peripheral.
positive · AI labelView post →Same. The Peripheral series was fantastic, and I was really looking forward to more of that.
positive · AI labelView post →@deuceofgears.bsky.social ‘s Machineries of Empire trilogy. @cstross.bsky.social ‘s New Management series. @greatdismal.bsky.social ‘s The Peripheral and Agency.
neutral · AI labelView post →Canceled show(s) that haunt me: The Peripheral and Raised by Wolves. If sacrificing someone meant seeing these stories told, I’d have tied Zaslav to the pyre myself.
positive · AI labelView post →
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