Alexandra Billings Joins Chloë Grace Moretz in Amazon’s Sci-Fi-Thriller ‘The Peripheral’

Transparent star Alexandra Billings is set for a key recurring role in The Peripheral, Amazon’s upcoming original series based on the bestselling novel by William Gibson. She joins Chloë Grace Moretz (Shadow in the Cloud) and Jack Reynor (Midsommar), who have already been announced to star in the sci-fi thriller series.

What is The Peripheral?

Created by Scott B. Smith, The Peripheral is described as a “dazzling, hallucinatory glimpse into the fate of mankind — and what lies beyond.”

The upcoming series from Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy‘s Kilter Films promises to be a wild cyberpunk ride. Gibson is the father of the science-fiction sub-genre which explores transhumanism, artificial intelligence, and cyberspace.

The novel follows Flynne Fisher (Moretz), who lives in a small town in rural America where she takes care of her chronically ill mother and can’t quite hold down a job. Her brother Burton (Reynor) is a veteran of the Marine Corps’ elite Haptic Recon force, though he suffers from glitches as a result of the military’s tinkering. He’s hired for a security job that he thinks takes place in cyberspace, but soon discovers it may be closer to reality. He asks Flynne, a talented gamer, to fill in for him. She witnesses what is either a horrifying twist in the online game’s plot or possibly murder.

Casting the Mysterious Detective

Billings will play Detective Ainsley Lowbeer, an ancient being who extended her life and youth artificially. The character is a transgender woman in the novel, so it’s nice to see that they’ve appropriately cast a transgender actress in the role. She is a major character with a great deal of influence over the narrative, so I’m curious to see how she’ll be brought to life on the small screen.

Billings is a trans trailblazer in the acting world. She most recently starred as Madame Morrible in the Broadway production of Wicked and is the first trans actor to play the role (which is not written as trans). She also starred as Davina in Amazon’s Emmy-winning series Transparent and was a producer of the series’ musical finale.

In addition to Moretz and Reynor, the cast includes Eli Goree, Gary Carr, Charlotte Riley, JJ Feild, Adelind Horan, T’Nia Miller, Alex Hernandez, Louis Herthum, Chris Coy, Melinda Page Hamilton, Katie Leung, and Austin Rising. Greg Plageman (Person of Interest) will serve as executive producer and showrunner.

The Peripheral is produced by Amazon Studios and Warner Bros Television, in association with Kilter Films.

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