David Peterson Creates New Languages for Syfy’s Face Off

For fans of David J. Peterson, the man who took George R.R. Martin’s race of Dothraki horse lords and invented a working language for them, there’s a special treat on TV tonight. Peterson, whose rose to fame due to his work on Game of Thrones, will be the celebrity guest star on Face Off, Syfy’s most popular program since Battlestar Galactica went off the air.

Some might think that bringing in Peterson is a direct tie back to the hugely popular show, and in the intro host McKenzie Westmore makes sure to name-drop Game of Thrones. But since making a name for himself on HBO’s hit, Peterson has been employed by Syfy for its recent attempts to get back to its science fiction roots. He created the languages for both Defiance and Dominion, shows Face Off has promoted in the past, but the network sadly canceled last fall. He’s also behind the languages heard on cult hit The 100 and MTV’s new The Shannara Chronicles.

In the intro, Peterson gives a short explanation for how he creates the languages we hear on TV, and how he originally got the job on Game of Thrones in the first place.

I’m curious to hear the languages Peterson creates for the contestants. (I personally love Face Off, which is like Project Runway meets Movie Makeup, and recap it at my own place.) It’s still early in the season, which means that at least one team will probably fail and come up with something close to a Dothraki knock off. I’ll be watching to see if they end up with a hard syllabic guttural-type language like we heard spoken on the Great Grass Sea.

Tune in to Face Off on Syfy on Wednesdays at 9 p.m.