Roger Zelazny’s ‘Roadmarks’ On Track To Become A HBO Series
by Erik Amaya
George R.R. Martin is helping one of Roger Zelazny‘s books become a television series.
Deadline reports he is involved in a HBO adaptation of Zelazny’s 1979 novel Roadmarks as an executive producer. The novel tells the tale of a literal highway of time linking different and timelines together. A very special few may use the highway, and while some take the Doctor Who example of exploring its various off-ramps for knowledge, others use it for more selfish reasons, while yet still others see the open road as their only means of survival. Into this setting, lead protagonist Red Dorakeen runs guns and supplies to different eras while trying to recreate a version of history he only half-remembers.
Star Trek: Discovery veteran Kalinda Vazquez will spearhead the development, serving as showrunner and executive producer.
Martin is, of course, the author of A Song of Ice and Fire, from which HBO’s A Game of Thrones is based. When not slowly writing the next Ice and Fire novel, The Winds of Winter, he aids the premium cable channel in creating Thrones spinoffs and assisting in development projects like Roadmarks. As Deadline points out, he was also friends with Zelazny, who passed away in 1995, so there is definitely something of a legacy in choosing to be part of this project. Indeed, even if we poke fun at the pace of his writing, it is a spectacular thing to see him using his clout to get some of his contemporaries’ work adapted into TV.
In a statement, Martin said, “My career in television started in 1985 when I adapted Roger Zelazny’s Last Defender of Camelot for The Twilight Zone. Roger was a friend, a mentor, and one of the greatest science fiction writers who ever lived. It was an honor to be able to bring his work to television. That is why I am so thrilled to be a part of adapting Roger’s novel Roadmarks for HBO. We have a great book, a great screenwriter in Kalinda Vasquez, and the makings of a wonderful, original show. I look forward to a long and thrilling journey.”