Nightflyers: First look at George R. R. Martin adaptation

Despite fans still waiting for the next installment of Song of Ice and Fire, there is actually no shortage of George R. R. Martin projects in development. One of them – Nightflyers – just released its first trailer.

The series, which will air on SyFy in the US but be a ‘Netflix Original’ in the UK, follows a crew of scientists as they attempt to find a new planet at the edge of the solar system. It’s another sci-fi concept attempting to solve the end of Earth, but it at least looks slick as heck.

Showrunner Jeff Buhler said: “Instead of going with the 1000-world universe created by Martin, we stepped back a little from the complexity of that world to create a story that takes place 75 years in our own future so that everything feels very realist” and “based on current technology.

“It’s not post-apocalyptic Earth where nobody can live, but imagine all the problems that we talk about today. The idea was to paint a picture of an Earth where life isn’t working anymore… it’s not sustainable and there [is] a push to build off-world habitats.”

Eoin Macken, Gretchen Mol, David Ajala, Jodie Turner-Smith and Angus Sampson star.

“There’s this debate between, should the human race be rushing to make colonies to essentially use our work up and go somewhere else, or is there some moral imperative to spread the human race throughout the galaxy, or is there some other way to address these problems?” Buhler continued.

The look of the show was “heavily influenced” by films such as 2001, The Shining and Alien, which explains the slightly retro-futuristic vibe from the trailer.

“Those are the touchstones,” said Buhler. “Those were the chouces that we made so that it felt like we were watching a film and watching big science fiction.”

Nightflyers will premiere in the autumn.