Tad Williams’ Otherland show in the works from The Wheel of Time and The Witcher producers

Tad Williams might be one of the most important modern fantasy authors who has yet to have his work adapted for television or movies, but that is on the way to changing. Deadline reports that Polish studio Platige Image (The Witcher) is teaming up with The Wheel of Time executive producer Mike Weber to bring Williams’ cyberpunk fantasy series Otherland to the small screen.

Williams is best known for his fantasy series Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, which is such a long-standing mainstay of the genre that it’s even been cited as an influence for A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. Otherland is one of Williams’ other series, which is comprised of four books and mixes in more sci-fi elements. It’s described as a “cyberpunk fantasy” by publisher DAW/Ad Astra, which sounds like a very cool mash-up of genres.

“I believe Tad has written the definitive work on the conflict between the human experience and technological advancements,” Weber told Deadline. “He depicts a not-so-distant future where the choice between living in the real or the virtual world becomes a choice between life or death. The prescient themes and fantastic characters give Otherland all the foundations of a next-level sci-fi drama series adaptation.”

Deadline seems to have gotten the scoop on this one; they also have some more details about what we can expect in the series:

"The world as we know it has an additional layer here – hyper-realistic VR arenas that have become a new place for fun, work, education but also debauchery, crime and abuse. The mysterious Otherland, supposedly another layer of the network, becomes a mere starting point for a multi-realm adventure.Its Inception-like mechanics contain a series of realms, some uncannily resembling the world we know, others bizarre clusters of familiar creations and characters. Among them are intergalactic taverns, medieval fantasies, and battlegrounds of World War I, to name a few."

What is Otherland by Tad Williams about?

The first Otherland novel, City of Golden Shadow, was originally published back in 1996. That means that if the idea of this new Tad Williams show excites you, there’s plenty more information out there to tease out about what might lie ahead. Here’s the official back-of-book description for City of Golden Shadow, which gives a better idea of some of the characters who might appear in the series:

"Otherland. Surrounded by secrecy, it is home to the wildest dreams and darkest nightmares. Incredible amounts of money have been lavished on it. The best minds of two generations have labored to build it. And somehow, bit by bit, it is claiming the Earth’s most valuable resource—its children.Only a few have become aware of the danger. Fewer still are willing or able to take up the challenge of this perilous and seductive realm. But every age has its heroes, and unusual times call for unusual champions:Renie Sulaweyo, a teacher and the backbone of her family, proud of her African heritage, has fought all her life simply to get by. She has never wanted to be a hero. But when her young brother is struck down by a bizarre and mysterious illness, Renie swears to save him. When people around her begin to die, she realizes she has stumbled onto something she is not meant to know, a terrifying secret from which there is no turning back.!Xabbu is a Bushman, come to the city to learn skills which may save the spirit of his tribe. With the heart of a poet and the soul of a shaman, he will journey with Renie on this quest into the very heart of darkness.Paul Jonas is lost, seemingly adrift in space and time. As he flees from the bloody battlefields of World War I to a castle in the sky, and onward to lands beyond imagining, he must not only evade his terrifying pursuers, but solve the terrible riddle of his own identity.Fourteen-year-old Orlando is also the invincible barbarian Thargorm, but only in his imagination. However, youth and frailty are not enough to get you excused from saving the world.And Mister Sellars, a strange old man on a military base, a prisoner of both the government and his own body, may be the greatest mystery of all. Is he part of The Grail Brotherhood? Does he oppose them? Or, as he sits like a spider at the center of a vast web, does he have ambitions of his own?The answers will only be found in Otherland."

We’ll be keeping a close eye out for more news about Weber and Platige Images’ adaptation of Otherland in the new year.

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