George R.R. Martin’s next TV show may be about werewolves

Fans of “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin have a new reason to howl at the moon.

Cinemax has optioned the rights to “The Skin Trade,” Martin’s 1988 “werewolf noir” novella, the author announced on his blog. “The deal is closed, and Cinemax has ordered the pilot script,” Martin wrote. “[I]f they like the script, we’ll shoot a pilot, and if they like that, hey, who knows, maybe we’ll get a series on the air.”

The pilot script will be written by Kalinda Vazquez, who will produce the show if it’s ordered. Vazquez has worked as a writer for the television shows “Prison Break” and “Once Upon a Time.”

“The Skin Trade” was originally published in “Night Visions 5,” a horror anthology, alongside stories by Stephen King and Dan Simmons. The story of a private detective investigating werewolf attacks won the 1989 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella. The story has also been adapted into a comic book series.

Martin assured his fans that the project won’t affect his long-awaited novel “The Winds of Winter,” the sixth book in his “A Song of Ice and Fire” series that forms the basis for the television show “Game of Thrones.”

“And no, while I would have loved to write the script and run the show myself myself, that was never really in the cards,” Martin wrote. “I have this book to finish. You know the one.”