Amazon has officially greenlit its Kristen Stewart-led astronaut series.
Two years after Deadline revealed that the Twilight star was attached to play astronaut and physicist Sally Ride, the first U.S. woman to fly in space, the streamer has handed The Challenger a limited series order.
The Challenger comes from Maggie Cohn (The Staircase), who will write, exec produce and serve as showrunner.
Based on Meredith E. Bagby’s 2023 book The New Guys, it was initially developed at Kyra Sedgwick’s Big Swing Productions, which will produce alongside Stewart’s Nevermind label and Amblin Television.
Sedgwick and Valerie Stadler will exec produce for Big Swing Productions, Stewart, Dylan Meyer, and Maggie McLean will exec produce for Nevermind and Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey will exec produce for Amblin Television alongside Cohn, Bagby and James Hawes, who directs.
Ride became the first American woman to fly into space in 1978. She was later on the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, which happened on January 28, 1986, killing seven crew members.
The Challenger tells the story of one of the most defining moments in space history, both the unprecedented events leading up to the tragedy, and the shocking investigation that followed. As the members of the 1986 Rogers Commission interrogate the complex inner workings of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to find what, or who, was responsible for the Challenger’s doomed fate, the show explores Commission member Ride’s personal journey. It follows her, and the rest of the diverse Astronaut Class of ’78, through the ranks of the shuttle program, through initial recruitment and training, professional and personal highs and lows, until her historic glass ceiling moment as she becomes the first American woman in space.
“Meredith, Valerie, and I at Big Swing have been passionately developing this project since 2017, and we are thrilled to be partnering with Amblin and Amazon MGM Studios. There is no one better than Maggie Cohn to bring to life the complex story of the Challenger and the new class of astronauts recruited by NASA in the early 1970s, all through the eyes of an American hero, Sally Ride,” said Sedgwick.
“Sally Ride’s courage and brilliance changed history, and we couldn’t imagine a more powerful actor to bring her story to life than Kristen Stewart,” added Peter Friedlander, Head of Global Television, Amazon MGM Studios. “The Challenger is an inspiring story about breaking barriers, and we’re thrilled to collaborate with Big Swing Productions, Amblin Television, Nevermind Pictures, Maggie Cohn, and James Hawes to share it with our global Prime Video audience.”
The deal was brokered by WME, representing Amblin Television and Stewart, and CAA, representing Sedgwick, Big Swing Productions, and Cohn.