In the ancient, forgotten year of 2016, we reported that occasional book-writer George R.R. Martin had declared that the Wild Cards book series he edits with Melinda M. Snodgrass would be coming to TV at some point in the distant future. Well, that distant future has nearly arrived, because The Hollywood Reporter says that Hulu is close to making a deal for the rights to Wild Cards, with the streaming service planning to develop an entire TV universe that includes multiple “interlocking” Wild Cards TV shows. Hulu is already setting up a writers’ room to develop the shows, with The Secret Circle writer Andrew Miller heading up the projects through an overall deal with Universal Cable Productions.
The original Wild Cards stories are set in a world where an alien virus hit the planet after World War II, killing off a bunch of people and turning the survivors into either grotesque mutants (“Jokers”) or god-like superhumans (“Aces”). Now—as THR puts it—”after decades of sociological turmoil, having been worshipped, oppressed, exploited, and ignored, victims of the virus want to define their own future.” There have been 27 books set in the Wild Cards universe, plus some comics and role-playing games, with Martin and Snodgrass acting as the shepherds of the mythology.