George R.R. Martin, best known for writing the book series that was adapted into HBO's groundbreaking Game of Thrones, has a new television project.
Martin made the announcement on Sunday through a post on his LiveJournal blog, confirming that Universal Cable Productions had purchased the rights to adapt Martin's long running anthology series, Wild Cards. According to Martin, development on the series will begin immediately with the end goal to have "several interlocking series" that connects all of the anthology stories.
The majority of Wild Card novels are set in an alternate version of America post-World War II and follow a group of humans that have contracted the "Wild Card" virus. The virus, which is described as an alien virus that rewrites human DNA, has a couple of different effects. Those that are left with crippling negative effects are referred to as "Jokers" while those that are mutated into superhero forms are referred to as "Aces." The first Wild Cards book was released in 1987 and there have been 22 novels published since then. The next novel is set to be released later this month.
"Wild Cards is a series of books, graphic novels, games, " Martin wrote. "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 more consistent), with an enormous cast of characters both major and minor."
Martin's announcement comes on the heels of HBO confirming that there will only be two more seasons of Game of Thrones. The writer is still working on his sixth installment in the A Song of Fire and Ice series that inspired the HBO series, and as such, Martin said he won't be involved with the Wild Cards series.
"I won't be working on the series myself... my own development deal is exclusive to HBO," Martin wrote. "And I am writing The Winds of Winter, as I believe most of you will recall."
More can be read on Martin's LiveJournal page.