Netflix's New George RR Martin Adaptation Is SO Far From 'Game of Thrones' & I'm Shook

The U.S. science fiction series Nightflyers tells the thrilling story of a team of scientists who embark on a journey into space, in order to make first contact with alien life forms. The series is based on the novel and series of short stories of the same name, both of which were penned by Game of Thrones author George RR Martin. But when is Nightflyers coming to Netflix UK?

Well, according to Digital Spy, you won't have to wait very long, as the hit series will be launching on Netflix UK on Friday Feb. 1. The first season consists of ten episodes, and originally aired on the Syfy channel back in December 2018. The series is set in the year 2093, and follows eight maverick scientists aboard a ship named The Nightflyer. As previously reported, the team embark on a mission to our solar system with the goal of making contact with alien life. However, things begin to go very wrong for the travelling scientists after a string of terrifying and violent events take place. The television adaptation stars Merlin's Eoin Macken, former EastEnders actor Sam Strike, as well as Jodie Turner-Smith, David Ajala, Maya Eshet and Angus Sampson — and showrunner, Jeff Buhler, is already making plans for a second outing of the show.

Speaking to The Verge, Buhler went into detail about the potential future of the series. He said: "When I pitched Nightflyers, I pitched a journey that encompassed more than one season. The novella essentially outlines where the first season goes and leaves us in a place of total mystery. We have some opportunities to dig a bit deeper into the world."

The show-runner also explained that the creative team behind Nightflyers had to make some changes to the original story, in order to be picked up by it's current television network. He said:

"One of the big changes from the novella that we tackled in making the TV series was to roll back the timeline that existed in the Thousand World universe."

In George RR Martin's original story, humanity has already colonised the galaxy, however for the show, Buhler wanted the story to go back to the point where humanity first made contact with aliens. Explaining the reasoning behind this creative decision, and deviation from the original novel, he told The Verge, "We've seen a lot of first-contact stories, and they usually centre on an alien species attacking the Earth for resources, or something along those lines. I wanted to tell a sort of twist on that story."

Although sightly different to his own story, author Martin made a quick cameo in the first season's trailer to reassure fans of the sci-fi and horror genre that they're in safe hands with Nightflyers. As reported by Digital Spy, Martin says "Nightflyers is a haunted house story on a starship. It's Psycho in space. I can't wait to actually see it come alive on the screen."