Prime Video’s 8-Episode Sci-Fi Adaptation Didn’t Deserve To Be Forgotten After Just 3 Years

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Streaming services have become a great place to find excellent science fiction shows. Prime Video, for example, featured The Expanse, while HBO Max released Station Eleven. Apple TV+ brought us Foundation and Silo, and Netflix offered shows like Dark and Altered Carbon.

It’s true that finding quality science fiction shows is easier now, but many still don’t get the chance to finish their stories. For example, Altered Carbon and Ridley Scott’s Raised by Wolves were both canceled after just two seasons. The Expanse ended after six seasons on Prime Video, leaving several books from the original series unexplored. While fans still appreciate The Expanse, another show canceled by Prime Video has largely faded from memory.

The Peripheral Was A Promising Sci-Fi Series On Prime Video

Based on William Gibson’s novel and launched in 2022, The Peripheral seemed poised for success. Starring Chloë Grace Moretz alongside a strong supporting cast, and with the creative team behind Westworld (Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy) at the helm, the show started with high expectations. For the most part, it lived up to them.

The first season wasn’t perfect, but it established a strong base for future storylines and felt like something with a lot of potential. Visually, The Peripheral stood out from typical science fiction, creating a strikingly beautiful and unsettling world that blended futuristic elements with Victorian London. The complex plot, involving a conspiracy that spanned different time periods and groups, offered a rich and engaging story for sci-fi enthusiasts.

The first season of The Peripheral had a complicated plot, jumping between time travel, virtual reality, a futuristic world, and a catastrophic event, which sometimes made it hard to follow. However, unlike Westworld, it mostly stayed coherent, though viewers might have needed to keep track of details as they watched.

Because the plot of The Peripheral was so complex, most characters weren’t developed very deeply, with the exception of Flynne Fisher, played by Chloë Grace Moretz. Though they lacked full development, the characters weren’t simple stereotypes. T’Nia Miller’s Cherise hinted at being a compelling villain, but it was Alexandra Billings as Inspector Lowbeer who truly stood out and captivated audiences towards the end of the first season.

Why The Peripheral Was Canceled

The first season of The Peripheral left many questions unanswered and characters undeveloped, suggesting there was more to the story. Fortunately, a second season was quickly confirmed after the finale. This means the show can now fully explore the possibilities introduced in those initial eight episodes, especially the interesting group of characters around Flynne.

Surprisingly, Amazon decided to cancel The Peripheral a few months after initially planning to continue it. Reports indicate this was due to the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes, which would have caused significant delays in making a second season, ultimately making it impractical to continue the show.

Why The Peripheral Doesn’t Deserve To Be Forgotten

Unfortunately, The Peripheral joins a small group of shows canceled after just one season, despite being a good series. It wasn’t canceled because of low ratings or bad reviews – in fact, it scored well with both critics (79%) and audiences (85% on Rotten Tomatoes). Instead, external factors led to its cancellation.

Despite its initial promise, The Peripheral has faded from view over the last three years. A major reason is that the first season doesn’t offer a complete story on its own. It was obviously designed with a second season in mind, and the first eight episodes feel incomplete, leaving storylines unresolved.

Honestly, looking at how complex The Peripheral is, I think spreading it out over multiple seasons was the right call. Trying to wrap everything up neatly at the end of season one just wouldn’t have worked with such big ideas. That being said, leaving things so open-ended doesn’t really make it easy to get people hooked or encourage them to revisit it later, which is a shame.

The biggest strength of The Peripheral isn’t its story or characters, but the incredibly detailed world it creates. Even if the plot and characters feel a little thin, the show really shines when you’re simply immersed in its unique setting.

The story balances a bleak potential future – 2032 on the brink of collapse with civil unrest and environmental disaster, yet filled with strong family bonds – against a strikingly different vision of London. This future London is a complex mix of high society, detective work, and dystopian elements, where the boundaries between criminals, the government, and corporations have completely dissolved.

Although the ending of The Peripheral leaves things at a major turning point, which might be frustrating for some, the show is still worth watching on Prime Video. It’s especially strong when it comes to creating a unique atmosphere, a detailed fictional world, and a truly imaginative story.

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2025-12-20 00:49