Peacock is collaborating with Regé-Jean Page, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Willmott to produce a television series about Muhammad Ali.
According to Variety, “Excellence: 8 Fights” is an eight-episode scripted drama depicting the life of the boxing legend and is adapted from Jonathan Eig’s celebrated biography “Ali: A Life.”
The drama series will be focused on portraying Ali’s “defining moments.”
“[Excellence: 8 Fights will] chronicle eight distinct and defining moments in the iconic life of Muhammad Ali,” the show’s synopsis reads. “Each episode will be framed by one fight from Ali’s life. But the essence of the episode, what it’s really about, is the internal fight. The drama outside the ring. Where we will explore the struggle going on in the heart and mind of one of the most consequential and controversial figures of the 20th century.”
The upcoming project has enlisted Page, Freeman, and Willmott as executive producers. Emily Brown and Lori McCreary representing Revelations Entertainment will also be apart of the production. Furthermore, Eig will be involved as the project’s producer in collaboration with CBS Studios and UCP.
On another note, a musical production about Ali’s life is also in the works.
The show’s composer, Teddy Abrams, received approval from Lonnie Ali, Muhammad’s widow, to create a musical production. The deputy artistic director of London’s National Theatre, Clint Dyer, and producer Richard Willis are also involved in the theater project.
