With Game of Thrones on its way out, it’s about time another George R.R. Martin creation was adapted for television. Apparently, Universal Cable Productions agrees, as they’ve acquired the rights to the author’s anthology series, Wild Cards.
Described by Martin as “a collection of interlocking books, graphic novels and games,” Wild Cards is a universe that’s “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.”
Sounds pretty exciting then, and given that 22 volumes have been released since its creation in 1986, with dozens of characters and hundreds of storylines to adapt, it looks like the producers will have no shortage of source material to draw from.
Taking to his personal blog, Martin outlined the plot of Wild Cards, giving those who’ve never read it a brief idea of what to expect:
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.
Tell us, have you had any experience with Wild Cards? If so, how do you think the property will do on television? Is it well suited to the medium? Sound off below and let us know!
