Back in 2011, it was announced that George R.R. Martin's Wild Cards was headed for a film adaptation but the Game of Thrones author has revealed on his person blog that the superhero fantasy novel series from The Wild Cards Trust is now being developed for television. Said Martin---
“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."
Universal Cable Productions is currently producing
Mr. Robot, Syfy’s
The Magicians,
Suits and
Royal Pains. Martin goes on to make it clear that he's not going to be working on the project as his commitments to finishing
A Song of Ice and Fire and his dealings with HBO on the TV adaptation currently take up all of his spare time. However, one has to wonder that despite UCP's previous partnerships with USA and SyFy, might HBO also be interested in the project, seeing as how
Game of Thrones will be ending fairly soon? With
STARZ entering into the superhero genre, it's only a matter of time before the other premium cable networks follow suit [no pun intended].
Wild Cards is an anthology and short story series that actually started out as a role-playing game that Martin invented with other sci-fi authors including Gail Gerstner-Miller, Victor Milan, John J. Miller, Melinda M. Snodgrass, and Walter Jon Williams. Martin served as game master. After taking stock of the incredible amount of material they'd created for the game, Martin pitched an idea that a shared universe be created to further solidify the mythology. Other writers invited to join the group included Roger Zelazny, Lewis Shiner, Pat Cadigan, Howard Waldrop, Edward Bryant, and Stephen Leigh. The first titular anthology series was published in 1987. To date, their have been over 30 anthology and short story entries published.
SYNOPSIS: There is a secret history of the world―a history in which an alien virus struck the Earth in the aftermath of World War II, endowing a handful of survivors with extraordinary powers. Some were called Aces―those with superhuman mental and physical abilities. Others were termed Jokers―cursed with bizarre mental or physical disabilities. Some turned their talents to the service of humanity. Others used their powers for evil. Wild Cards is their story.