Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss sign on to develop an adaptation of the graphic novel Lovecraft. Benioff and Weiss of course are still receiving criticism for the final season of Thrones, which many fans thought fell far short of expectations. The showrunners however have received plenty of support from GoT cast members and famous fans as they deal with the backlash over their handling of the series’ tricky final episodes.
As for what Benioff and Weiss will do as their follow-up to Thrones, the team initially had set up an HBO series entitled Confederate, which was to offer an alternate take on American history in which the Union lost the Civil War. However, that planned project received a lot of harsh feedback and is now delayed. The pair then signed on with Disney to develop a Star Wars movie, but the studio ultimately canceled those plans as well (it’s not known if the poor response to the GoT finale played a role in their losing out on the chance to do Star Wars). Benioff and Weiss recently rebounded from that disappointment by joining most of the entertainment industry in signing a deal to develop movies and TV shows for Netflix.
With Game of Thrones and Star Wars no longer taking up their time, Benioff and Weiss reportedly have also been able to get a project going that they’ve been working on for several years. As reported by Deadline, the pair will develop an untitled thriller for Warner Bros. based on the graphic novel Lovecraft by Hans Rodionoff. Aeon Flux writers Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi will get the first shot at writing the script, with Flux director Karyn Kusama on board as executive producer.
H.P. Lovecraft works are of course notoriously difficult to bring to the screen, and there are very few adaptations that are considered worthy by hardcore fans of the horror author. The graphic novel Lovecraft at least puts an interesting spin on the whole Lovecraftian horror approach by literally making the story about Lovecraft himself, imagining what would happen if monsters from his books showed up in his 1920s New England world. According to Deadline, the story will be set within Lovecraft’s famously huge and bizarre Cthulhu Mythos, which encompasses some of the writer’s most famous stories including The Call of Cthulhu, The Dunwich Horror, At the Mountains of Madness and The Shadow Out of Time (and of course has been expanded upon my many other writers since Lovecraft’s death).
Lovecraft fans can of course be very obsessive and are obviously difficult to please considering how hard they are on most “Lovecraftian” movies, but that shouldn’t bother Benioff and Weiss, who already have thick skins after dealing with George R.R. Martin’s many equally obsessive fans during their years as showrunners on Game of Thrones. It will be interesting to see if Lovecraft ultimately delivers a satisfyingly Lovecraftian experience, or lands on the very large pile of movies that failed to do justice to the author’s considerable legacy (or outright never happened).
More: Games of Thrones Showrunners Didn’t Pay Attention to Fan Feedback During Its Run
Source: Deadline
