Wild Cards: There's Another George RR Martin TV Show Coming
Alien viruses, superheroes and cards...
Good news, George RR Martin fans: some more of his epic work is going to be seen on a screen near you in the not so distant future.
The occasional writer and LiveJournal enthusiast has revealed that NBCUniversal’s Universal Cable Productions (UCP) has picked up the rights to the long-running Wild Cards series for TV, with the intention to create several interlocking series.
Martin himself won't be involved, as he's got the HBO deal and, you know, he's supposed to be writing The Winds Of Winter, but his "right hand man" Melinda Snodgrass will be taking the lead.
Wild Cards might not be as well-known as A Song Of Ice And Fire, but it was only pipped to the prestigious Hugo Award in its debut year because of Alan Moore's Watchmen, and it's about to see a twenty-third volume released this month. It's already been optioned before - in 2011 by SyFy and Universal, and a screenplay was written, but nothing came of the intended film.
It's a pretty grim central premise: in 1946 an alien virus was released over Manhattan, infecting the world, killing 90% of those infected, turning 9% into "jokers" (no, not that one) and gifting the other 1% extraordinary powers and changing the world. Inevitably, wading through the lore requires a degree in it: this is George RR Martin after all.
Here's Martin's description of the series:
"Wild Cards is a series of books, graphic novels, games… but most of all it is a universe, as large and diverse and exciting as the comic book universes of Marvel and DC (though somewhat grittier, and considerably more realistic and more consistent), with an enormous cast of characters both major and minor. There are thousands of stories to be told in the world of the Wild Cards, and Gregory and Melinda and UPC hope to be able to tell many of them… Only one thing I can say for (almost) sure. You will be seeing Croyd Crenson, no matter shape the eventual show or shows ends up taking. It wouldn’t be Wild Cards without the Sleeper."
Are you excited to watch the Wild Cards series? Let us know in the comments below!