George R.R. Martin, the author of the “A Song Of Ice & Fire” series that inspired HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” has another project heading to the small screen.
Martin announced that his “Wild Cards” anthology series, an ever changing sci-fi superhero story, has been acquired by Universal Cable Productions.
“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,” Martin wrote on his blog.
“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 author compared his superhero series, which spans 22 volumes and includes countless characters, to the franchises of Marvel and DC.
“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 consistent), with an enormous cast of characters both major and minor,” he wrote.
When can fans expect this gritty, realistic and multi-faceted superhero world to hit the airwaves? Martin wrote that he hopes the series will become a reality within the next two years.