No, they aren’t moving Game of Thrones into the space age. George R.R. Martin wrote more books than just Song of Ice and Fire, you know. Syfy channel has just discovered Nightflyers, a novella by the same author following a team of scientists launching out into space to make contact with an alien race. What starts off as a diplomatic mission quickly becomes a survival horror as the crew struggles to survive against a… something Syfy refuses to let us see in either of the trailers because they’re hoping to sell the entire mini-series on Martin’s name alone, apparently.
Nightflyers was written way back in 1980 as a novella before growing into a series of stories five years later. It’s also been made into a film based on the shorter version of the novella, so there’s a successful history behind the work for sure.
The upcoming series, set to premiere later this year, is based on the Nightflyers movie and is being produced by Robert Jaffe, who – not by coincidence – also worked on said movie. Martin himself is not involved in the project due to his contract with HBO, but that hasn’t stopped him from being enthusiastic about it.
There are, in fact, multiple teasers for the Nightflyers series, but none of them give away any details of plot or character, other than something bad being aboard the ship with them. It’s being powered by a hefty budget, so it’s sure to look and sound wonderful under the care of a team dedicated to putting out their best efforts.
With no plot details leaked (yet), it remains to be seen what elements are being kept and which will change, or if a modern re-working of a nearly 40-year-old horror story can truly ring with its intended audience. Not that there’s really much doubt.
