George R.R. Martin Teaming Up with Marvel for Adaptation of Wild Cards

HBO’s Game of Thrones series may have been George R.R. Martin’s big break, but he still has other IP that studios are now trying to get their hands on. While HBO continues to expand the Westeros lore with House of the Dragon, Martin is teaming up with Marvel to adapt one of his own original IP.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, Martin and Marvel are working on an adaptation of the world of Wild Cards, an anthology series that started in 1987 with stories from Howard Waldrop and Roger Zelazny (besides Martin).

Before you get excited to wait for Wild Cards on Disney+, this adaptation is actually going to be a comic. Martin says, “As my fans may already know, the Wild Cards World holds a special place in my heart… So to have the privilege of announcing that an industry titan like Marvel is going to produce the narrative from the beginning as a comic book brings me no end of joy.”

The series will be written by Paul Cornell and will have art from Mike Hawthorne. This is the first piece of art we have for the comic:

via: THR/Marvel Comics

Though you may be bummed that this isn’t a TV series, an adaptation of Wild Cards for television is currently in the works over at Peacock. We don’t have any updates on that though, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

Here’s the official description of the Wild Cards books:

Just after World War 2 over New York City, an alien virus transforms human genetics and goes recessive to create super heroes and villains. Most victims die, others experience physical or psychic changes: aces have useful powers, deuces minor maybe entertaining abilities, jokers uglified, disabled, relegated to ghettos.

No release date has been set for the Wild Cards TV series, but in the meantime, the comic Wild Cards: The Drawing of the Cards launches on June 1. You can also watch out for House of the Dragon which hits HBO Max sometime this year.