A 1990s classic is getting reimagined on Amazon Prime and will officially be hitting the streamer on August 12. A League of Their Own is based on the 1992 Penny Marshall film of the same name, which starred Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna, and many more. The critically-acclaimed comedy about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League grossed more than $100 million dollars upon its release and was one of the most successful films of 1992. Amazon is now turning the sports classic into an eight-episode drama series and is debuting the first look at A League of Their Own:
The series is being created by Will Graham and Abbi Jacobson, who also has a starring role as Carson Shaw. Jacobson was a co-creator on the Comedy Central series Broad City from 2014 to 2019, which is where she told The Hollywood Reporter the opportunity to become involved with A League of Their Own came about:
"Will [Graham] asked if I wanted to do it together and I said yes immediately. I grew up loving the movie as well. I was in the middle of writing season four of Broad City and we had just done this episode with a montage of powerful, revolutionary women, and our editor at the time wanted to put Mamie Johnson in it. I didn't know who she was. She was one of the first and only Black women to play in the male Negro leagues professionally. When Will and I started talking about the ways in which we wanted to do our version, that felt more real, nuanced and gritty and [a way to] incorporate more women's stories."
Joining Jacobson in the cast are D'Arcy Carden, Priscilla Delgado, Melanie Field, and Nick Offerman. Rosie O'Donnell will also be part of the series, calling back to her role in the original 1992 film. There's no word on if any of the other classic cast members from 30 years ago will be making appearances in the reboot, but it's certainly not out of the question for Hanks, Davis, or even Lori Petty to cameo in some form or fashion.
A League of Their Own Will Be a New Take on the Classic Film
With A League of Their Own being an eight-episode series, there will be more opportunities to dive deeper into the time period in which the show takes place. The All-American Girls league ran from 1943-1954, and was established to keep baseball in the public eye while the majority of the country's men were off fighting overseas. While the film took a more comedic tone, the official synopsis of the series promises a bit of a different take on the source material:
"A League of Their Own evokes the joyful spirit of Penny Marshall's beloved classic, while widening the lens to tell the story of an entire generation of women who dreamed of playing professional baseball. The show takes a deeper look at race and sexuality, following the journey of a whole new ensemble of characters as they carve their own paths towards the field, both in the League and outside of it."
The entire eight-episode first season of A League of Their Own will be premiering all at once on Prime Video on Aug. 12.