The final season of Game of Thrones will premiere in April. After the series ends, many people thought that George R.R. Martin would be free of distractions and able to sit down and finish the print edition of the A Song of Fire and Ice series, but not so fast! According to The Hollywood Reporter, Martin is in talks to bring two new series to Hulu, both based on the Wild Cards series.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Wild Cards… sit down for a minute. First, a synopsis via THR:
Set in the present, the book series explores the aftermath of an alien virus released over Manhattan in 1946 that killed 90 percent of those it infected. In the survivors, DNA was altered, creating grotesque physical deformities, except for a tiny percentage who develop superhuman powers instead. Called the Wild Card virus, it has passed down through generations and can go undetected until suddenly activated by a traumatic event, at which point the carrier is either killed, mutated or granted god-like powers — effects that are largely a manifestation of the victim’s emotional state, making them vulnerable to reverence or ridicule on a deeply personal level. Now, after decades of sociological turmoil, having been worshiped, oppressed, exploited and ignored, victims of the virus want to define their own future.
According to Martin’s blog, the science fiction series was inspired by a role-playing game that Martin was obsessed with in the early 80’s. From there he and his friends started turning their characters into stories and novels and Martin and Melinda M. Snodgrass put them together in a series of anthologies. Over the last three-plus decades, more than 40 authors have helped write more than 20 books. Martin and Snodgrass will reportedly be among the executive producers of the series.
There have been comics and graphic novels and supplementary materials published. Multiple companies have tried to make movies. Not to mention the fact that Martin has turned Wild Cards back into a role-playing game. If you thought it was difficult to keep track of the various characters in Game of Thrones, this sounds like a nightmare. But if you’re ready to turn in dragons and ice zombies for mutants in the 1940’s, then Hulu is going to have a lot of content or you.
