The "night thieves" of Syfy take the psychological horror in the space

Can the lightning strike twice? This is the question that hovers around the next series of Syfy space horror films Nightflyers, an adaptation of a group of 1980s fiction novels written by George R. R. Martin, the creator of The iron Throne.

Martin compared his Nightflyers fiction to "Psycho in space". Set in about seventy years, the Syfy series follows a team of scientists aboard the Nightflyer, attached to the edge of the solar system in hopes of contacting an extraterrestrial life form. But there are some complications: the Earth is plagued by plagues and no one knows how to communicate with this extraterrestrial species (or even if they are friendly at first). Professor D'Branin believes that humanity's last hope is to bring into space an unstable, potentially lethal, L1 telepath, called Thale (Sam Strike), as a universal translator. In other words, the plan is not without a hitch.

Distribution and spectators Nightflyers On Friday, Comic Con from New York came on stage to talk about the project, following the first screening of the first episode. Showrunner and executive producer Jeff Buhler was joined by his EP colleagues, David Bardis and Gene Klein, as well as by the stars of the Eoin Macken series (Karl D'Branin), David Ajala (Captain Roy Eris) and Gretchen Mol (Dr. Agatha Matheson).

Since Nightflyers is based on a 100-page novel and several short works, the showrunners had more freedom to rely on the framework established by Martin. "We have hidden some mysteries in there that are not in the book," Buhler said. "It was really an opportunity to take the world that George created, this mission, and to fulfill it."

But developing this world does not mean that fans should expect many things about what has happened on Earth to inspire this mission. "We do not spend too much time on the apocalypse. It's a trope we've seen in a lot of science fiction shows, "Buhler said. "George's book is hundreds of years in the future. What we wanted to do with the series was to bring things back to our experience. We know that the problems that we will probably face in the next century have begun to occur, to a certain extent. "

The cast and producers of SyFy's "Nightflyers", inspired by George R.R. Martin's sci-fi horror shorts, featured at the New York Comic Con 2018. Newsweek / Jen Glennon

Instead, Nightflyers will focus on the exploration of the spirits of his crew, who begin to undo even in the first episode. "Karl starts pretty steady, he seems to have it together. But as you can see, it's not really stable at all. It's getting worse from now on. Jeff [Buhler] pushed into very dark places, "said Macken with a laugh.

The Nightflyer's captain does not look like the other captains of spaceships we've seen before, lacking the qualities of a statesman's Picard or the bomb of a Kirk. He stays in his quarters, observing the crew through cameras and interacting with the bridge crew only by holographic projection. "He's a bit shy, but he sees a little chocolate queen, Melantha (Jodie Turner-Smith), and he says," Oh, I'm going to get some. "It's she who launched The Unnerving of Captain Eris."

Panelists drew attention to Nightflyers' horror chops. "This show is a love letter for horror fans," said Buhler, citing films like The brilliant, the exorcist and The horror of Amityville as influences on the show. But, he added, there was no single inspiration. "We found that you could create different stylistic impressions, different approaches to horror, in different parts of the series. It takes a winding and sinuous path through our favorite horror references. I'm not afraid to shoot stuff I like. All this means with the utmost respect. "

At the end of the first episode, it is clear that the crew of the Nightflyer is in an extremely precarious situation. As The iron Throneit is clear that no one is safe. Even so, Klein says "there is a really firm plan for Seasons 2 and 3" if the series finds an audience.

Buhler noted that planning a cross season story required a bit of getting away from the source material. "In the book, everyone dies, so we have to take some liberties. We even lost someone during the season. "

"I'm really glad you qualified this person," Ajala laughed.

Syfy plans to use casual observers as it debuts the first five episodes of the season, December 2-6. Episodes 6 to 10 will be broadcast from December 9 to 13. will be released in just two weeks. Syfy also plans marathons in the series to help fans catch up.