The next George R. R. Martin TV series is already in production—and we’re not talking about the Game of Thrones spinoffs. Nightflyers is a sci-fi/horror series based on a 1980 novella by Martin, and we just got our first look from Syfy.
This featurette is short and sweet, offering a brief teaser and some interviews with the cast and creators. Starring a crew of scientists who want to make contact with alien life, Martin describes Nightflyers as “a haunted house story on a starship.” There are definitely shades of Alien and Event Horizon here, with Martin also comparing the story to Psycho. So while the teaser is a little overzealous in saying Nightflyers is “like nothing we’ve seen before,” it slots into a very popular subgenre in the sci-fi landscape.
Nightflyers has all the right ingredients for a gripping psychological horror story. Along with all the space scientists, the crew includes a telepath (Sam Strike) and his psychiatrist (Gretchen Mol), who accompanies him to keep his powers in check. Speaking to USA Today, producer Jeff Buhler explained that in this universe, telepaths are disenfranchised and oppressed, often growing up in internment camps. “There’s a lot of prejudice against them as a group. And there’s a lot of interesting dynamics that creates when you bring someone on board a ship that’s confined and you’re on a long journey isolated in deep space.”
So in the classic vein of so many horror movies before, the true monsters may be the humans themselves.
Nightflyers will air on Syfy this fall.