The next TV project based on work from "A Game of Thrones" author George R.R. Martin will take place in space. SyFy will air "Nightflyers" this fall, featuring a horror-movie atmosphere set on a spaceship. The network just released its first look at the series on YouTube, showing a lot of disjointed, scary moments.
The video opens with blood on the wall and somebody broadcasting over the ship's channel. "This is a warning," the woman says. "Do not board this ship. Do not bring the Nightflyer back to Earth."
"Nightflyers" is based on a 1980 novella by Martin that was republished in a 1985 anthology; the work also inspired a 1987 film by writer/producer Robert Jaffe. The story's astronauts are academics on an interstellar hunt for a strange group of beings called volcryn. The ship featured in the TV series, called the Nightflyer, has some strange powers — and not much is known about its captain. [George R.R. Martin Discusses 'Nightflyers' Series Coming to Syfy]
"'Nightflyers' is a haunted-house story on a spaceship. It's 'Psycho' in space. … I can't wait to actually see it come live on screen," Martin says in the new video.
Martin is not involved with the production of "Nightflyers," because his work on HBO's "Game of Thrones" (based on the author's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series) has an exclusivity clause, he wrote on his blog last year."
"'Nightflyers' was one of my best SF stories, I always felt," Martin added on the blog. "I'd love to see it succeed as a TV series (fingers crossed that it looks as good as 'The Expanse')." ("The Expanse" is another sci-fi series set in space, featuring a power struggle 200 years in the future between residents of Earth, Mars and the asteroid belt. It recently was renewed for a third season on Syfy.)
The new video also shares behind-the-scenes views of filming, including references to the complexity of shooting on a spaceship that's supposed to stretch acres in size.
"'Nightflyers' is like nothing you've seen before," said Markus Förderer, the show's director of photography.
"It's exciting stuff," added Phillip Rhys, who plays "Murphy" on the show.
Syfy plans to air the series in fall 2018. Stars of "Nightflyers" include Rhys, Miranda Raison (Tessia), Gwynne McElveen (Tobis), Youssef Kerkour (Hartley Suczek) and Andrea Dolente (Doryen).
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