No, it’s not a Game of Thrones prequel. We already knew that the SyFy channel had optioned George R.R. Martin novella Nightflyers for development, and now The Hollywood Reporter has it that Syfy has committed to making a pilot.
Nightflyers was first published in 1980. It follows a group of explorers who live on the Nightflyer, the most advanced spaceship in the galaxy. Earth is in bad shape, and they’re looking for ways to help humanity survive. They get their hopes up when they intercept a mysterious alien spacecraft, but as they learn more, “they discover that the ship’s artificial intelligence and never-seen captain may be steering them into deadly and unspeakable horrors deep in the dark reaches of space.” That’s rough.
Incidentally, Nightflyers was made into a very cheesy-looking sci-fi flick in 1987. Watch the trailer with caution:
The whole thing sounds more horror-oriented than Game of Thrones are used to, but then again, Martin did a ton of work in several genres before setting foot in Westeros. As for fears that will take Martin’s attention away from The Winds of Winter and other projects, rest assured that he will not be involved with the Nightflyers show — so far as television goes, he has an exclusive development deal with HBO. He weighed in on the announcement on his Not a Blog, though. “The novella was a favorite of mine,” he said, “and I think the show could have a lot of potential… especially if you like a little horror in your SF.”
But even though Martin won’t be working on Nightflyers, that doesn’t mean he’s sworn off TV work. “LOTS of things going on with television and film,” he writes in another Not a Blog post. Remember, he’s involved with all five of the Game of Thrones prequels in development, all of which “are moving forward at various rates of speed.” And apparently his people are talking to Universal Cable Productions “about not one, not two, but three possible Wild Cards series.”
"And there are a couple other TV projects that I can’t tell you about… how much of this will come to pass, nobody knows. Ah, the joys of development…"
Next: Sky Deutschland reveals when select moments in Game of Thrones season 7 will occur
Game of Thrones season 7, the next obvious thing on Martin’s TV plate, debuts on July 16.