Sci-Fi Storm

Nightflyers follows eight maverick scientists and a powerful telepath who embark on an expedition to the edge of our solar system aboard The Nightflyer – a ship with a small tightknit crew and a reclusive captain – in the hope of making contact with alien life. But when terrifying and violent events begin to take place they start to question each other – and surviving the journey proves harder than anyone thought.

Eoin Macken (The Night Shift) is set to star as Karl D’Branin alongside Sam Strike (EastEnders) as Thale, Maya Eshet (Teen Wolf) as Lommie, Angus Sampson (Fargo) as Rowan, Jodie Turner-Smith (The Last Ship) as Melantha Jhirl, Gretchen Mol (Boardwalk Empire) as Agatha, David Ajala (Fast & Furious 6) as Roy Eris, and Brían F. O’Byrne (Million Dollar Baby) as Auggie.

Coming this Fall to SYFY

I am once again trying to play catch up, so here is a rundown of the last several days worth of news…

On the casting side, Syfy’s Superman prequel Krypton has signed Hannah Waddingham (How to Lose Friends & Alienate People) as Jax-Ur, once one of Kypton’s eminent scientists turned leader of the terrorist group Black Zero. An interesting choice, as the character has traditionally been portrayed as a male.

On the opposite side of the comic world, Marvel and Netflix’s Daredevil added Joanne Whalley (Willow), in an unspecified role. However, the finale of The Defenders made mention of a “Maggie” who is believed to be Sister Maggie, a character in the comic series who is in fact Matt Murdock’s mother who left her family to become a nun, and return to nurse her son back to health.

The much anticipated Ready Player One will open a day earlier than originally scheduled. Instead of opening on Good Friday, March 30th, of the Easter weekend it will now open on the Thursday, March 29th. Thursday openings for big movies is becoming more common…based on the [asin=0307887448]2011 SF novel[/asin], the story is set in a near-future dystopian society, in which teenager Wade Watts enters a virtual reality game to look for the game’s “easter egg” which could net him wealth – but there are those willing to kill to stop him.

ABC has ordered a pilot for the remake of The Greatest American Hero with a put commitment (ABC will at a minimum air the pilot as a special/TV movie, or pay a penalty). This version centers around a tequila and karaoke-loving 30-year-old Indian-American woman who becomes entrusted with a suit that gives her the power to protect the planet – but it doesn’t work out so well. Cast has yet to be named. This is the first collaboration between 20th Century Fox Studios and ABC, who are set to become siblings. Fox and ABC studios are co-producing with Fresh Off the Boat‘s Rachna Fruchbom and Nahnatchka Khan’s Fierce Baby.

Lastly, the Irish Film Board just gave a huge boost to the production of George R.R. Martin’s Nightflyers, which will be filming at Troy Studios in Limerick, Ireland. The board granted €850,000 (about $1.1 million) to the production, which is the largest such award in the current funding cycle. Syfy ordered the 10-episode series earlier this month from Universal Cable Productions, with Netflix on board for international distribution.

SYFY today announced a series pickup for Nightflyers, based on author George R.R. Martin’s novella and the 1987 film of the same name. Jeff Buhler (Jacob’s Ladder) wrote the adaptation for television and will executive produce alongside Daniel Cerone (“The Blacklist”) who will also serve as showrunner. Martin will also executive produce, along with Gene Klein (Suits), David Bartis (Suits) and Doug Liman (Live. Die. Repeat) of Hypnotic; Alison Rosenzweig (Jacob’s Ladder, Windtalkers) and Michael Gaeta (Jacob’s Ladder) of Gaeta Rosenzweig Films; Lloyd Ivan Miller and Alice P. Neuhauser of Lloyd Ivan Miller Productions. Robert Jaffe (Nightflyers, – 1987) will produce. Andrew McCarthy (Orange is the New Black) will be a producer-director on the project. Mike Cahill (I Origin) will direct the pilot.

The series will be produced by Universal Cable Productions. Netflix will co-produce and have first-run rights to the series outside of the U.S.

Gretchen Mol (Boardwalk Empire) is set to star as Dr. Agatha Matheson, alongside Eoin Macken (The Night Shift) as Karl D’Branin, David Ajala (Fast & Furious 6) as Roy Eris, Sam Strike (EastEnders) as Thale, Maya Eshet (Teen Wolf) as Lommie, Angus Sampson (Fargo) as Rowan, Jodie Turner-Smith (The Last Ship) as Melantha Jhirl and Brían F. O’Byrne (Million Dollar Baby) as Auggie.

Nightflyers follows eight maverick scientists and a powerful telepath who embark on an expedition to the edge of our solar system aboard The Nightflyer – a ship with a small tightknit crew and a reclusive captain — in the hope of making contact with alien life. But when terrifying and violent events begin to take place they start to question each other — and surviving the journey proves harder than anyone thought.

The series, produced in Ireland, is moving forward with the support of the Government of Ireland, through the Minister for Culture, Heritage and Gaeltacht and the Irish Film Board.

George R.R. Martin’s SF-horror novella Nightflyers has been picked up for a 10-episode series by Syfy, according to the writer himself.

Syfy ordered up a pilot earlier this year, but apparently made the decision to go straight to series after seeing the script by Jeff Buhler (Jacob’s Ladder). Netflix will handle international viewers, and possibly also as a second-run domestic source.

Also according to Martin, the show is in pre-production/casting stages, but there is apparently already a cast selection made that “has pleased me more than I can possibly say,”, according to the Game Of Thrones scribe. But we will have to wait a little longer to find out who that is…

The supernatural thriller is set in the future on the eve of Earth’s destruction, a crew of explorers journey on the most advanced ship in the galaxy, The Nightflyer, to intercept a mysterious alien spacecraft that might hold the key to their survival. As the crew nears their destination, they discover that the ship’s artificial intelligence and never-seen captain may be steering them into deadly and unspeakable horrors deep in the dark reaches of space.

Nightflyers, a project based on the novella from George R.R. Martin and previously announced to be in development at Syfy, is moving forward with a pilot.

Martin himself is not involved in the project, as he is exclusive to HBO’s Game Of Thrones currently. The script was written by Jeff Buhler (Jacob’s Ladder). The supernatural thriller is set in the future on the eve of Earth’s destruction, a crew of explorers journey on the most advanced ship in the galaxy, The Nightflyer, to intercept a mysterious alien spacecraft that might hold the key to their survival. As the crew nears their destination, they discover that the ship’s artificial intelligence and never-seen captain may be steering them into deadly and unspeakable horrors deep in the dark reaches of space.

“We are looking forward to diving deeper into George R.R. Martin’s chilling world of Nightflyers,” said Bill McGoldrick, EVP Scripted Development for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. “The script that Jeff delivered encapsulates this classic sci-fi horror story and adapts it to a platform where we can truly explore the depths of madness.”

Nightflyers is a production of Universal Cable Productions and Hypnotic.

Syfy Films, created last December as an offshoot of Syfy Ventures in partnership with Universal Pictures, made it’s first rights acquisition for George R.R. Martin’s anthology series Wild Cards, announced today by Syfy Films Senior Vice President of Production Gregory Noveck. Melinda Snodgrass (The Outer Limits, Star Trek: The Next Generation) will write the script, with herself and Martin exec producing.
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The George R.R. Martin fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire has been greenlighted by HBO for production as a series, with 9 episodes plus the pilot ordered. It appears it may run under the name of Game Of Thrones, which is the name of the [asin=0553381687]first novel[/asin] and also of the pilot episode. Taking place mostly on the continent of Westeros where winter can last decades, it deals with the conflicts between seven kingdoms in the aftermath of a civil war, struggling to take the ultimate throne – some with force, others with subterfuge, while the Others from the north prepare to renew their threat from across the Wall.