Amazon has formally greenlighted its Kristen Stewart-led astronaut collection.
Two years after Deadline revealed that the Twilight star was connected to play astronaut and physicist Sally Ride, the primary U.S. lady to fly in house, the streamer has handed The Challenger a restricted collection order.
The Challenger comes from Maggie Cohn (The Staircase), who will write, exec produce and function showrunner.
Inspired by Meredith E. Bagby’s 2023 guide The New Guys, it was initially developed by creator Cohn at Kyra Sedgwick’s Big Swing Productions, which can produce alongside Stewart’s Nevermind label and Amblin Television.
Sedgwick and Valerie Stadler will exec produce for Big Swing Productions, Stewart, Dylan Meyer, and Maggie McLean will exec produce for Nevermind and Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey will exec produce for Amblin Television alongside Cohn, Bagby and James Hawes, who directs.
Ride in 1983 turned the primary American lady to fly into house. She was afterward the presidential fee that appeared into the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger accident, which killed seven crew members.
The Challenger tells the story of one of the vital defining moments in house historical past, each the unprecedented occasions main as much as the tragedy, and the stunning investigation that adopted. As the members of the 1986 Rogers Commission interrogate the complicated interior workings of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to seek out what, or who, was liable for the Challenger’s doomed destiny, the present explores Commission member Ride’s private journey. It follows her, and the remainder of the varied Astronaut Class of ’78, by way of the ranks of the shuttle program, by way of preliminary recruitment and coaching, skilled and private highs and lows, till her historic glass ceiling second as she turns into the primary American lady in house.
“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,” stated Sedgwick.
“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,” added Peter Friedlander, Head of Global Television, Amazon MGM Studios. “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.”
The deal was brokered by WME, representing Amblin Television and Stewart, and CAA, representing Sedgwick, Big Swing Productions, and Cohn.
