As one George R.R. Martin-based TV series nears its end, another is poised to begin. Syfy is moving full steam ahead with Nightflyers, releasing the first trailer March 20. The preview doesn’t skimp on suspense, nor does it fail to highlight Martin’s involvement or the scale of the project.
Martin himself appears in the video, billing it as “a haunted house story on a starship” and “Psycho in space.” From what we’ve seen so far, we’d call the descriptions accurate. The roughly one-minute trailer shows people bloodied, brutalized, and even burning.
A sci-fi horror story, Nightflyers stems from Martin’s 1980 novella the same name. It was included in his 1985 short story collection, which inspired the 1987 film Nightflyers and in turn the new television series. The story centers on a group of scientists and a telepath who together embark on a space voyage in search of alien life. Along the way, they face unexpected dangers that cause cracks within their ranks.
Syfy was close to a series order for Nightflyers in September, according to Deadline. The network then pulled the trigger in January when it officially ordered the adaptation, as Variety reported. No premiere date has been announced as of yet, but the trailer indicates the show will arrive this fall.
The Nightflyers series is written by Jeff Buhler, who will executive produce along with showrunner Daniel Cerone. Their fellow executive producers include Alison Rosenzweig and Michael Gaeta of Gaeta Rosenzweig Films; Lloyd Ivan Miller and Alice P. Neuhauser of Lloyd Ivan Miller Productions; and Gene Klein, Davis Bartis, and Doug Liman of Hypnotic. Robert Jaffe, a writer and producer for the original Nightflyers adaptation, will produce, as will Andrew McCarthy, who is also set to direct. Meanwhile, Mike Cahill is lined up to direct the pilot.
Martin will also serve as an executive producer, although it was previously reported that he would be unavailable. He has been hard at work finishing his much-anticipated tome The Winds of Winter, so he won’t be involved on a “day-to-day” basis, according to Variety. The author’s progress on the book has been notoriously slow; he started it more than five years ago.
With Game of Thrones set to conclude after its upcoming eighth season, fans will likely be curious about Nightflyers. The series may help fill a viewing void when the show ends. It deals with some themes that are similar to ones featured on Game of Thrones, such as survival, albeit in very different circumstances.
While the series will air on Syfy in the United States, Netflix has landed first-run rights for non-U.S. markets. The streamer will also co-produce the adaptation alongside Universal Cable Productions.
Updated on March 21: We’ve added the series’ first trailer.
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