Sandkings: Gore Verbinski directs George R.R. Martin adaptation for Netflix

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

The Ring 2002 and A Cure for Wellness director Gore Verbinski has lined up his next genre project, as Collider has learned that he is working on a feature adaptation of the George R.R. Martin story Sandkings for Netflix.

Utopia writer Dennis Kelly is working on the screenplay. Martin's story centers on 

a wealthy playboy named Simon Kress who collects dangerous, exotic animals. One day, he stumbles across a mysterious establishment called Wo & Shade, where he purchases a terrarium filled with four colonies of creatures called sandkings, which grow to fill whatever environment they are kept in. Each colony consists of a large female called the maw, and numerous insect-like mobiles that she controls via telepathy. In addition to finding food for the maw, the mobiles also construct a sandcastle around her to protect the maw from invading colonies.

Indeed, the four colonies — white, black, red and orange — often engage in coordinated wars with one another, especially once their new owner makes them fight over food by starving them. Simon begins taking bets on the outcomes of these wars, which leave some of his friends impressed, and others disgusted. Eventually, the sandkings escape Simon's terrarium and begin to take over his house as their hunger — and Simon's desperation — intensifies.

If you haven't read Martin's book (which you can purchase HERE), Sandkings may still sound familiar to you because it previously inspired a 1987 graphic novel from DC Comics and a 1995 episode of The Outer Limits that starred Beau Bridges.

Verbinski's Sandkings is being produced by John Baldecchi through his company Digital Riot Media.