Netflix has set new series from Kevin Williamson and Tim McGraw, as well as severals sports docs centering on Olympians like gymnast Simone Biles and the Dallas Cowboys team.
Williamson is set to write and executive produce a new family drama, titled “The Waterfront,” which follows the “flawed Buckley family as their attempts to retain control of their crumbling North Carolina fishing empire drive them to increasingly dangerous means to keep themselves afloat,” per the official logline. Produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, “The Waterfront” will be executive produced by Ben Fast for Outerbanks Entertainment.
McGraw will also lead and executive produce a drama series set in the competitive world of bull riding, with the country singer starring as a megastar champion “facing a life-or-death crossroads when confronted by the arrival of a fearless young rider whose very existence challenges his ways and unearths secrets that force him to reckon with his past,” according to the logline.
Brandon Camp serves as writer, creator, coshowrunner and EP for the series, which hails from Skydance Television, with Taylor Elmore serving as coshowrunner and EP. Additional EPs include Tim Staples, Brian Kaplan and Joel
Bergvall for Down Home, and David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Matt Thunell for
Skydance Television.
The streamer also announced several upcoming sports series, two of which will follow the road to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris 2024 through the eyes of the world’s fastest sprinters and the Olympic men’s basketball team.
After the streamer first greenlit a series following sprinters last year, Netflix announced the project’s title as “Sprint,” with Season 1 following Sha’Carri Richardson, Noah Lyles and Shericka Jackson during the 2023 World Championships, while Season 2 picks up on the athletes’ journeys to the 2024 Games. Hailing from Box to Box Films in association with the Olympic Channel, Season 1 will premiere in July ahead of the start of the Olympics.
The other series centered on the men’s basketball team, which will premiere in early 2025, will follow “potential medal contenders and promising hopefuls in
men’s basketball as teams from across the world compete in the Olympic Games
Paris 2024 and qualifying events leading up to it,” per the official description. Jake Rogal (“The Last Dance”) will serve as showrunner.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics will serve as a launching point for the series surrounding Biles, which will pick up on the gymnast’s journey since she withdrew from the competition due to mental health concerns as she continues her record-setting career. The first part of the series is slated to premiere in July.
After Netflix announced it had greenlit a new docuseries centered on the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders in April, the streamer confirmed Wednesday that it would also pursue a documentary centered on Jerry Jones and his lasting impact on the Cowboys. Produced by Skydance Sports in association with NFL Films and Stardust Frames Productions, the new series will feature interviews with Jones, Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith, Deion Sanders, Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer, President George W. Bush, Phil Knight and Rupert Murdoch.
