After initially being set up at National Geographic for a 2020 debut, the series adaptation of the Tom Wolfe novel The Right Stuff is shifting gears and is set to take off at Disney+, the House of Mouse’s hit new streaming service, according to Deadline.
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The NASA-based series now marks the second program to be taken by the streaming service from Nat Geo after the docu series The World According to Jeff Goldblum was originally set up with the Disney-owned cable network before being sent to Disney+. The Right Stuff is set to become the first scripted original series for Disney+ from Nat Geo and will provide a platform for a notable original drama in the fall when streamers begin to feel the effects of pandemic-related production shutdowns.
“This true story of scientific innovation and human perseverance could not be more timely,” Courteney Monroe, president, National Geographic Global Television Networks, said in a statement. “National Geographic’s The Right Stuff is an aspirational story about exploration, ambition, determination and resilience and reminds us that human beings can achieve the extraordinary when united by a common purpose. This series provides a compelling behind-the-scenes look at the flawed, but heroic Mercury 7 astronauts and we are thrilled that it has found its perfect home on Disney+.”
To combat a national sentiment of fear and decline, the U.S. government conceives of NASA’s Project Mercury, igniting a space race with the Soviets and making instant celebrities of a handful of the military’s adrenaline-fueled test pilots. These individuals, who come to be known as the Mercury Seven, are forged into heroes long before they have achieved a single heroic act. At the heart of a historic drama populated by deeply human characters, archrivals John Glenn and Alan Shepard jockey to become the first man in space.
Get your copy of the book the series is based on here.
The Right Stuff will star Patrick J. Adams (Suits) as John Glenn, Jake McDorman (Limitless) as Alan Shepard, and Colin O’Donoghue (Once Upon a Time) as Gordon Cooper, along with Eric Ladin, Patrick Fischler, Nora Zehetner, Eloise Mumford, Shannon Lucio, and Josh Cooke.
Academy Award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) will serve as an executive producer through his Appian Way banner along with Jennifer Davisson, Will Staples, Mark Lafferty, and Lizzie Mickery. Game of Thrones’ David Nutter will direct the series’ premiere episode and is also set as an executive producer. Lafferty has also signed on as the showrunner.
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The series is co-production between Appian Way Productions and Warner Horizon Television in partnership with National Geographic.
The Right Stuff will make its debut sometime in fall 2020 on Disney+.
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