George RR Martin Is Making A TV Show Out Of His Old, Creepy Werewolf Novella
This probably isn't the announcement 'Game of Thrones' fans were waiting for.
A couple of weeks ago after spectacularly shutting down rumours of an upcoming Game Of Thrones movie, author George RR Martin has given fans something else to look forward to. Or, more specifically, fans who are aggressively interested in creepy cult horror from the late-’80s.
HBO’s sister company Cinemax has just optioned the rights to his “werewolf noir” novella The Skin Trade — a story about human PI and a werewolf who investigate murders together.
Written before the Song of Ice and Fire series, Martin notes the work has “a storied and complex publishing history”. Originally appearing in an anthology known as Dark Visions or Night Visions 5, the work sat alongside pieces from Stephen King and Dan Simmons and earned the World Fantasy Award for Best Novella in 1989. As the author became more of an icon in the world of genre fiction, the work later went through multiple re-prints including a four-issue graphic novel series in 2013.
Though Cinemax have now ordered a pilot script, Martin remains cautiously optimistic. “This being Hollywood, of course, you never know where things will end,” he said in a blog post announcing the news. “If they like the script, we’ll shoot a pilot, and if they like that, hey, who knows, maybe we’ll get a series on the air.”
Also, though the author’s known for his close involvement with the Game Of Thrones HBO adaptation, Martin notes he’ll be stepping back from this one with Kalinda Vazquez (Prison Break, Once Upon A Time) writing the first episode instead. “I would have loved to write the script and run the show myself myself [but] that was never really in the cards,” he said.
“I have this book to finish. You know the one.”
Yeah, bud. We know the one. If you wanted to restore the fans’ faith that The Winds of Winter is in fact still on the way, optioning stories about crime-fighting werewolves from the Reagan administration probably isn’t the best way to go.