First teaser for Apple TV's Neuromancer debuts at SDCC - Ars Technica

Overview

First teaser for Apple TV’s Neuromancer debuts at SDCC

Plus Mike Flanagan’s Carrie teaser, trailers for Dark Matter S2 and Matchbox the Movie, and Marvel news.

Details

Apple TV is fast eclipsing HBO as the go-to platform for prestige TV, especially science fiction, with standout fare like Slow Horses, Severance, Foundation, For All Mankind, Murderbot, Silo, Pluribus, and Widow’s Bay, among others. Add the upcoming Neuromancer series to that list, an adaption of William Gibson’s hugely influential 1984 cyberpunk novel of the same name. The streaming platform released a short teaser during San Diego Comic-Con, and visually it looks fantastic, even based on one minute of footage.

Saturday’s various SDCC panels also gave us a teaser for Prime Video’s Carrie; trailers for Dark Matter S2 and Matchbox: The Movie; and a bit of Marvel casting news.

Fans of Gibson’s book already know the Neuromancer story; we’ll have to wait and see how closely the series will adhere to the novel. Per the official logline, the series “follows a damaged, top-rung super-hacker named Case who is thrust into a web of digital espionage with his partner Molly, a razor-girl assassin with mirrored eyes, aiming to pull a heist on a corporate dynasty with untold secrets.” Callum Taylor, best known as Theseus Scamander in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, stars as Case, alongside Briana Middleton (The Inheritance) as Molly.

The cast also includes a blond-haired Mark Strong as Armitage; Joseph Lee as Hideo; Clemence Poesy as Marie-France Tessier; Peter Sarsgaard as John Ashpool; Emma Laird as Linda Lee; Max Irons as Jean Tessier-Ashpool; Dane De Haan as Peter Riviera; Marc Menchaca as Dixie Flatline; Andre de Shields as Julius Deane; and Isabella Pappas as Mitchell.

Neuromancer premieres on January 22, 2027, on Apple TV+.

I’m a staunch fan of Mike Flanagan‘s burgeoning horror portfolio, and he has a particular affinity for the works of Stephen King, as evidenced by his film adaptations of Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep. But I confess to being a wee bit skeptical about his new Prime Video miniseries based on Carrie, King’s most famous character, immortalized by Sissy Spacek in the 1976 film. We don’t need another disappointing remake so what story is there left to tell—especially stretched out over six episodes?

On the plus side, Flanagan insists he has no intention of creating yet another straight adaptation of the novel. “Carrie was written half a century ago,” Flanagan said during his SDCC panel. “Carrie was adapted spectacularly by Brian De Palma. It is iconic. It is untouchable. There is no reason whatsoever to try to follow in those footsteps and to try to walk on that path. However, the world has changed quite a lot. I think a lot of people think they know what the show is. And the biggest thing I’m excited about today is just knowing what a big surprise our Carrie is going to be.”

The teaser itself doesn’t deliver any real surprises to anyone familiar with the story, but that’s just one minute of footage. I’m inclined to trust Flanagan’s instincts, given his track record and the stellar supporting cast he’s assembled, which includes several of his regulars.

We’ve got Samantha Sloyan—so chilling as the overly zealous Bev Keane in Midnight Mass—as Carrie’s mother, Margaret White; Michael Trucco as John Hargensen, a wealthy lawyer and father to mean girls ringleader Chris (Alison Thornton); Rahul Kohli as Harold Allison, Margaret’s stepfather; Ruth Codd as Cara; Matthew Lillard as Principal Henry Grayle; Katee Sackhoff as Judith Brigham, Margaret’s mother; Heather Graham as Mrs. Hargensen; Tahmoh Penikett as Margaret’s late husband and Carrie’s father, Ralph White; and Katie Siegel in an as-yet-undisclosed role. (I’m guessing we’re going to be getting a lot of White family flashbacks.)

For the main cast, we have Summer H. Howell as Carrie; Siena Agudong as Sue Snell, the only popular girl to feel remorse for bullying Carrie; Joel Oulette (no relation) as Sue’s boyfriend, Tommy Ross; Amber Midthunder as gym teacher Rita Desjardin; Arthur Conti as Chris’s boyfriend Billy Nolan; Josie Totah as Chris’s BFF Tina Blake; and Thalia Dudek as Emaline, a new character created for the miniseries.

All six episodes of Carrie premiere on October 7, 2026, on Prime Video.

Apple TV also debuted the official trailer for the second season of its sci-fi series Dark Matter. In S1, quantum physicist Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton) has a great life as a college professor in Chicago, with a beautiful wife, Daniela (Jennifer Connelly) and son Charlie (Oakes Fegley). Then he finds himself abducted at gunpoint by an alternate version of himself and sent into another reality where his life turned out very differently. His alter-ego has figured out how to travel between dimensions by way of a large metal box.

In the S1 finale, the original Jason, Daniela, and Charlie find their way to a seemingly safe haven in “World 26.” But this new trailer makes it very clear that their new life is under threat. Per the official premise:

Season two picks up with the Dessens as they settle into a quiet life in a world that finally seems safe until the unimaginable forces them to run once again. As Jason’s obsession with the Box deepens, Daniela’s growing paranoia pushes her to the brink, threatening to tear their fragile stability apart. Elsewhere, Amanda (Alice Braga) and Ryan (Jimmie Simpson) join forces in a desperate attempt to find their way home. With Blair (Amanda Brugel) determined to stop him, Leighton (Dayo Okeniyi) relentlessly chases his grand vision of creating a perfect world.

The second season of Dark Matter premieres on August 28, 2026, on Apple TV+.

There’s not much to say about Matchbox: The Movie that isn’t already contained in the title. It’s a movie inspired by Mattel’s Matchbox toy cars, and judging from the SDCC trailer, that’s about all it has to do with the brand. Somehow director Sam Hargrave and writer David Coggeshall have turned that thinnest of concepts into a feature-length action comedy film for Apple TV. And you know what? It looks like it could be solid escapist fun.

John Cena stars as a former soldier turned spy named Sean Walker who decides to reunite with his childhood Matchbox car-loving friends, played by Jessica Biel, Sam Richardson, Teyonah Parris, and Arturo Castro. The entire group ends up drugged and kidnapped by bad guys looking for a nuclear warhead. It seems the CIA thinks Sean and his friends stole the nuke, so they decide to re-steal the bomb and get their lives back. Wacky action hijinks ensue, many involving real-life versions of some of Matchbox’s classic toy cars.

Matchbox: the Movie will premiere on October 9, 2026, on Apple TV.

Marvel Studios’ release of The Avengers: Doomsday trailer several days before SDCC was a bit of a surprise, since fans expected that to happen at the Marvel panel on Saturday. The panel ended up focusing on big reveals concerning other future projects, although the Doomsday cast did assemble on-stage for a group selfie, a bit of Q&A—with a cameo by Ryan Gosling playing a fan in a Deadpool costume—and some exclusive teaser footage from the film.

Gosling’s presence wasn’t just a side stunt: Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige announced that Gosling will star in a new Ghost Rider film, to be directed by Shawn Levy (who just finished directing Gosling in Star Wars: Starfighter, due out next May). Gosling has long wanted to revive the character previously portrayed on the big screen by Nicolas Cage in 2007 and 2011, although it’s not clear if Gosling will play the same Johnny Blaze incarnation, or take on Danny Ketch instead. (Agents of SHIELD featured the Robbie Reyes incarnation, played by Gabriel Luna.) The new Ghost Rider is slated for a 2028 release.

Finally, director Ryan Coogler took the stage to announce that David Jonsson (The Long Walk) has been cast in Black Panther III as T’Challa’s grown son, Toussaint/T’Challa II. Black Panther III, expected to be the final installment in a trilogy, is slated for release on December 15, 2028.

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Key Takeaways

First teaser for Apple TV’s Neuromancer debuts at SDCC
Plus Mike Flanagan’s Carrie teaser, trailers for Dark Matter S2 and Matchbox the Movie, and Marvel news
Apple TV is fast eclipsing HBO as the go-to platform for prestige TV, especially science fiction, with standout fare like Slow Horses, Severance, Foundation, For All Mankind, Murderbot, Silo, Pluribus, and Widow’s Bay, among others
Saturday’s various SDCC panels also gave us a teaser for Prime Video’s Carrie; trailers for Dark Matter S2 and Matchbox: The Movie; and a bit of Marvel casting news
Fans of Gibson’s book already know the Neuromancer story; we’ll have to wait and see how closely the series will adhere to the novel