‘The Challenger‘ is officially moving forward at Prime Video, with Kristen Stewart (Twilight, Love Lies Bleeding) set to star as pioneering astronaut Sally Ride in the new limited series.
The project has now landed a formal series greenlight from Amazon MGM Studios, around two years after it first emerged that Stewart was attached to play Ride, the first American woman to travel into space. The drama comes from Maggie Cohn, who will write, executive produce and serve as showrunner, with James Hawes directing.
Inspired by Meredith E. Bagby’s book The New Guys, the series is set to tell the story of the events leading up to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, along with the investigation that followed. It will also track Ride’s own journey through NASA’s Astronaut Class of ’78, from recruitment and training through to her historic mission and role on the Rogers Commission after the 1986 tragedy.
That gives the show a slightly broader scope than a straight disaster drama, using the Challenger story as a frame to explore the lives, careers and barriers faced by a new generation of astronauts entering the shuttle programme.
Kyra Sedgwick’s Big Swing Productions produces alongside Stewart’s Nevermind label and Amblin Television. Sedgwick and Valerie Stadler executive produce for Big Swing Productions, while Stewart, Dylan Meyer, and Maggie McLean executive produce for Nevermind. Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey executive produce for Amblin Television alongside Cohn, Bagby and Hawes.
Sedgwick said: “Meredith, Valerie, and I at Big Swing have been passionately developing this project since 2017, and we are thrilled to be partnering with Amblin and Amazon MGM Studios. There is no one better than Maggie Cohn to bring to life the complex story of the Challenger and the new class of astronauts recruited by NASA in the early 1970s, all through the eyes of an American hero, Sally Ride.”
Peter Friedlander, Head of Global Television, Amazon MGM Studios, added: “Sally Ride’s courage and brilliance changed history, and we couldn’t imagine a more powerful actor to bring her story to life than Kristen Stewart. The Challenger is an inspiring story about breaking barriers, and we’re thrilled to collaborate with Big Swing Productions, Amblin Television, Nevermind Pictures, Maggie Cohn, and James Hawes to share it with our global Prime Video audience.”
For Stewart, the role is another high-profile move into prestige television, and for Prime Video it adds another big-name limited series built around a real-life figure and a major chapter in American history.
‘The Challenger‘ does not yet have a premiere date but will air on Prime Video in the UK. If you want to keep track of this or any other shows, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date. Visit Never Miss.
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