‘Game of Thrones’ author George R.R. Martin’s ‘Wild Cards’ could land on TV

Given the success of “Game of Thrones” on HBO, we’re almost surprised that networks out there are not just trying to turn napkin scribbles from the author into things that they can put on the air. (We’re not there yet, but maybe we will be in due time.)

In a post on his official Livejournal page, Martin confirmed that Universal Cable Productions is now in the process of developing an anthology series based on his Wild Cards novels, and that his assistant editor / partner in production Melinda M. Snodgrass would serve as an executive producer on the project. Here’s how he described the series in a post:

“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.”

Given that UCP frequently gives its projects to another company under the NBCUniversal banner in Syfy, it seems that this would be a natural landing fit for the series (and one of the first times since “Alphas” that they have really ventured into this particular territory. Having the series in development by no means guarantees that it will someday end up on the air, but given that you have Martin’s name attached the source material here, it definitely makes some sense that you would do what you could to make this work.

Martin, meanwhile, is still hard at work completing The Winds of Winter, the latest book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. There is still no release date confirmed for it.

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