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SYFY WIRE Peacock

George R.R. Martin's alt-history sci-fi series 'Wild Cards' shuffles from Hulu to Peacock

By Josh Weiss
Wild Cards hero

Wild Cards, an upcoming TV series based on a fictional literary universe created by A Song of Ice and Fire's George R.R. Martin, has officially moved over to Peacock from Hulu

A piece of speculative history, the show will explore how human civilization was drastically altered when a pathogen known as the Wild Card virus was released over Manhattan in 1946. "The virus rewrites DNA, mutating its survivors," reads the logline. "A lucky few are granted awe-inspiring superpowers" — individuals known as Aces — "while the sad majority are left with often repulsive physical deformities," which becomes a group known as Jokers.

The universe first kicked off in the late 1980s and has since been filled out via anthologies written by contributors like Melinda Snodgrass and Roger Zelazny. That short story approach opens the door for several different characters and story threads — which means myriad different directions the TV series could take all within Martin's Wild Cards-verse.

First announced in the summer of 2016, the Wild Cards TV show is being executive produced by Martin, Snodgrass (Star Trek: The Generation), and Vince Gerardis (Game of Thrones). Martin is quite the busy bee. In addition to the expanding Game of Thrones TV mythos over at HBO, he's also got adaptations of Roadmarks, In the Lost Lands, and Sandkings coming down the pipeline for different networks, studios, and/or streaming services.

Not to mention, ya know, still writing so he can finish the Song of Ice and Fire books.

As for Peacock, the streamer is no stranger to show's born from major book franchises. Just yesterday, the NBC-owned streaming service announced it had placed a full series order for Langdon — a series inspired by the works of Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown. The platform is also the current home of all eight Harry Potter films and the BBC's Noughts + Crosses adaptation.

(Peacock & SYFY WIRE are both owned by NBCUniversal)