USA Rugby star Ilona Maher is stepping back into the spotlight, with the 2024 Olympic bronze medalist set to be the subject of an upcoming docuseries created by actor Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine, the production company announced last Friday.
With Maher serving as both star and one of the show's producers, Hello Sunshine is teaming up with Ross Greenburg Productions and Range Sports to develop the project, which details Maher's life both on and off the field. Maher's sister, Olivia Maher, will also serve as an executive producer of the docuseries.
"Ilona Maher is a force of nature," Hello Sunshine head of unscripted Sara Rea told The Hollywood Reporter. "Ilona shows unwavering resilience during the tough times and grounded authenticity while sitting on top of the world. She's funny, witty, thoughtful, and unapologetic. Quite simply, she's both relatable and extraordinary, and we are honored to tell her story."
Since her Paris Olympics breakthrough with Team USA, Maher has added a runner-up finish on Dancing with the Stars, a Sports Illustrated cover, and a successful podcast entitled House of Maher to her growing resume.
"I constantly feel like I have something to say," Maher said. "I'm a female athlete in a sport that does not get the attention it deserves in the US and yet I've been able to create this massive brand for myself through my own personality and authenticity."
The legendary 1999 World Cup-winning USWNT is heading to Hollywood, with Netflix announcing Wednesday that the streamer is in development on The 99'ers, a feature film based on Jeré Longman’s book The Girls of Summer: The US Women's Soccer Team and How It Changed the World.
Like Longman's book, the film will chronicle the USWNT's journey to winning the 1999 World Cup before a then-US record crowd at the Rose Bowl — as well as the ongoing impact that victory has on women's sports worldwide.
Helmed by Liza Chasin from 3dot Productions as well as a production team that includes actor Ryan Reynolds, who co-owns third-tier UK men's soccer club Wrexham AFC, the film will be directed by Nicole Kassell.
Kassell, who's resume includes The Leftovers and The Americans, earned both an Emmy and Director's Guild Award for her work on the HBO series Watchmen.
Screenwriters Katie Lovejoy and Dana Stevens, who wrote Netflix's Love at First Sight and The Woman King, respectively, will pen The 99'ers script.
Netflix boosts women's soccer content in lead-up to World Cups
This is far from Netflix's first foray into women's sports, with the streamer boasting documentaries on tennis star Naomi Osaka and gymnastics legend Simone Biles, among others — and a new series on F1 Academy women drivers dropping later this month.
Even more, the content giant is all-in on women's soccer. After chronicling the 2023 World Cup journey of the USWNT in a four-part docuseries, Netflix closed 2024 by snagging the exclusive US broadcast rights to the 2027 and 2031 Women's World Cups.
While Netflix acquired the rights to Longman's book in 2020, the timing of The 99'ers development is likely an effort to bolster the broadcaster's women's soccer content in the lead-up to the upcoming World Cups.
Prime Video is hitting the tennis court with Thursday's streaming premiere of UNINTERRUPTED's Top Class Tennis.
After four seasons of the men's high school basketball-focused Top Class: The Life and Times of The Sierra Canyon Trailblazers, athlete empowerment brand UNINTERRUPTED is expanding its purview to tennis with a new four-episode mixed-gender docuseries.
Junior tennis stars take centerstage
Behind the concept is 2017 US Open champion and world No. 45 pro Sloane Stephens, who co-executive produced the series alongside LeBron James and Maverick Carter, co-founders of UNINTERRUPTED and its production and entertainment development arm, The SpringHill Company.
Top Class Tennis follows four players on their journeys to the Orange Bowl, arguably the junior circuit’s Grand Slam equivalent. The Florida-based international tournament was established in 1947 and has crowned a long list of future pros as champions, from retired great Steffi Graf to current star Coco Gauff.
Stealing the spotlight this season is rising Harvard sophomore and 2022-23 USA Today Girls Tennis Player of the Year Stephanie Yakoff, as well as five-time junior title winner and incoming Texas freshman Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo. Both already have WTA creds, with Yakoff featuring at the 2023 BNP Paribas Open while Anazagasty-Pursoo competed on three Grand Slam courts.
Women's sports storms the big screen
Top Class Tennis is just the latest in what's shaping up to be a women’s sports documentary boom.
From Max's LFG about the USWNT's fight for equal pay and Netflix's Under Pressure chronicling the 2023 World Cup to ESPN+’s 2023-24 NCAA basketball series Full Court Press, athletes in women’s sports have taken streamers by storm.
UNINTERRUPTED's Top Class Tennis is available for streaming now on Prime Video.