George R.R. Martin Announces Development on a WILD CARDS TV Series

George R.R. Martin took to his LiveJournal page and announced that Universal Cable Productions has acquired the rights to Wild Cards, the long-running series of anthologies and mosaic novels he edits, with the intent to adapt them into a television show.

For those who have never heard of Wild Cards, here's his description:

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. 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.

Wild Cards is a series of books, graphic novels, games... but most of all it is a universe, as large and diverse and exciting as the comic book universes of Marvel and DC (though somewhat grittier, and considerably more realistic and more consistent), with an enormous cast of characters both major and minor.

Martin himself won't be working on the new series (he's a little busy writing The Winds of Winter), but he said that "Development will begin immediately on what we hope will be the first of several interlocking series" and he ended his blog post with one tantalizing bit of information:

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.

I've never read Wild Cards so I don't know who that character is, but I imagine if you've been following along with it since its creation in 1986, that sounds like it could be a piece of news that might be worth pumping your fist about. Martin hopes the new show will make it through development and onto our screens in a year or two, so we'll keep you posted as we hear more.

Have you read Wild Cards? Are you excited about a TV show version?