Are you freaking out that Game of Thrones will be ending in only 13 episodes? Me too. But there is a new hope. An entirely new world created by George R.R. Martin is coming to your television screen soon.
Universal Cable Productions has acquired the rights to adapt his superhero series titled Wild Cards.
Martin made the announcement on his LiveJournal (Christ George, you’re not a 16-year-old emo chick from 2003, why not try a more modern avenue such as Medium?):
Universal Cable Productions (UCP) has acquired the rights to adapt our long-running Wild Cards series of anthologies and mosaic novels for television. Development will begin immediately on what we hope will be the first of several interlocking series. Melinda M. Snodgrass, my assistant editor and right-hand man on Wild Cards since its inception, the creator of Dr. Tachyon, Double Helix, and Franny Black, and a seasoned television writer/ producer whose credits include STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION (“Measure of a Man”), REASONABLE DOUBTS, THE PROFILER, and STAR COMMAND, is attached as an executive producer on the project, together with Gregory Noveck of RED, Slow Learner, and SyFy Films.
Martin describes the series:
The shared world of the Wild Cards diverged from our own on September 15, 1946 when an alien virus was released in the skies over Manhattan, and spread across an unsuspecting Earth. Of those infected, 90% died horribly, drawing the black queen, 9% were twisted and deformed into jokers, while a lucky 1% became blessed with extraordinary and unpredictable powers and became aces. The world was never the same.
The first volume of the Wild Cards series was published in 1986, and was a finalist for that year’s Hugo Award, ultimately losing to Alan Moore’s WATCHMEN. Twenty-two volumes have been published to date, with a twenty-third (HIGH STAKES) scheduled for hardcover release later this month, and three more in the works. Translations and reprints of many of the Wild Cards books and stories have been published around the globe, in France, Germany, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, Russia, Japan, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Comic books, graphic novels, and role-playing games have also chronicled the adventures of the aces and jokers of the WC universe.
Martin and Melinda M. Snodgrass created the series in 1987. The series spans over twenty anthologies, where authors contribute short stories to add to a much larger narrative. The 23rd installment of the series titled High Stakes is set to be released later this month.
Before you go off on Martin for taking this project despite not being finished with The Winds of Winter, George wants you to calm your tits:
I won’t be working on the series myself… my own development deal is exclusive to HBO, and I am writing THE WINDS OF WINTER, as I believe most of you will recall… but I have every confidence in Melinda Snodgrass and Gregory Noveck. They know and love the Wild Cards universe almost as well as I do, and I think they will do a terrific job. Wish them luck.
If you’re not familiar with Universal Cable Productions this will give you an idea:
Universal Cable Productions (UCP) creates innovative and critically acclaimed original scripted and digital content across media platforms for domestic and international distribution. UCP’s content library spans classics such as Emmy-award winning, “Monk,” and critic and fan favorites “Psych,” “Battlestar Galactica,” and “Warehouse 13.” In the U.S., UCP’s programming can be seen across various networks, including: “Dig,” “Playing House,” “Royal Pains,” “Satisfaction” and “Suits” on USA Network; “Ascension,” “Defiance,” “Dominion,” and “12 Monkeys” on Syfy; “Girlfriends’ Guide To Divorce” on Bravo; “Difficult People” on Hulu; “Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome” on Machinima Prime/YouTube, Syfy and DVD/Blu-Ray; and “Side Effects” on Awesomeness TV/YouTube. Universal Cable Productions is a part of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies.
We can only hope that Wild Cards is even half as epic as Game of Thrones.
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[TheVerge]