Cinemax acquires TV rights to George R.R. Martin’s The Skin Trade

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

I don't watch very much television. In previous articles, I've admitted that I haven't watched the likes of The X-Files, Twin Peaks, or American Horror Story. There's another popular show you can add to the mix: I have never seen a single episode of HBO's hit show Game of Thrones, based on the series of books written by George R.R. Martin. I've just never gotten to it, although I've certainly heard a lot of people hype it up.

Game of Thrones is such a sensation, it's no surprise that other networks are looking for material in the Martin library, the only surprise is that it has taken this long.

Cinemax has now optioned the television rights to Martin's 1989 novella The Skin Trade, a werewolf story which

focuses on a young detective investigating a string of brutal murders in her small town (the victims are skinned). 

A series order is far from a guarantee, but veteran TV writer Kalinda Vazquez is currently adapting Martin's work into a script for a pilot. If Cinemax likes the script, it will be filmed, and if they like the pilot, we'll get a series. And what better home could there be for a show called The Skin Trade than a network nicknamed Skinemax?

Martin has always believed that The Skin Trade had potential to become a TV show or feature film, and first pitched the idea in 1991. The film rights were picked up by Mike the Pike Productions back in 2009, and Mike the Pike had a hand in bringing the project to Cinemax. 

The Skin Trade was previously adapted into a comic book published by Avatar Press in 2013. I haven't read either version of the story, but a TV series based on a werewolf terrorizing a small town is definitely something that I would be tempted to watch.