Game of Thrones Creator Gets a New TV Show, Here's What We Know

While HBO's Game of Thrones may be coming to an end, George R.R. Martin fans may be happy to learn that his long-running Wild Cards anthology series is being spun into a TV show.

Universal Cable Productions (UCP) bought the rights to adapt the franchise for TV, Martin wrote on his LiveJournal page. The team is getting right to work, as Martin says development is starting "immediately."

He added that the hope is to create "several interlocking series" for Wild Cards, though it's not immediately clear what that means. Melinda Snodgrass, whose credits include Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Command, is attached to the project as well, Martin said.

Martin praised UCP for creating "innovative" and "critically acclaimed" content for TV and digital channels. Some of its previous works include Mr. Robot and 12 Monkeys.

What's Wild Cards all about? First published in 1986, Wild Cards follows a group of humans who have contracted the "Wild Cards" virus in post-World War II America.

"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. "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."

Martin is not the sole writer of the Wild Cards series, as it has a roster of more than two-dozen contributors. He did not say which stories will be adapted for the screen, but did take a moment to say Wild Cards is "as large and diverse and exciting as the comic book universes of Marvel and DC." He also claimed that the Wild Cards stories are "somewhat grittier" and considerably more realistic and more consistent" than that of Marvel of DC.

"There are thousands of stories to be told in the world of the Wild Cards," he said.

"Only one thing I can say for (almost) sure. You will be seeing Croyd Crenson, no matter shape the eventual show or shows ends up taking. It wouldn't be Wild Cards without the Sleeper," Martin explained.

He ended his address by saying "Hollywood is Hollywood" so there is a chance Wild Cards may never make it to the small screen. But, if things go to plan, it should debut "in the next year or two."

Martin also clarified that he will not work on the Wild Cards TV series himself due to an exclusivity arrangement with HBO for Game of Thrones. Also, he is busy writing The Winds of Winter.

No official casting announcements have been made, but Resident Evil actress Milla Jovovich revealed in January that she had a part in a new George R.R. Martin project that could be Wild Cards.