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Kristen Stewart Set To Make TV Series Debut As Astronaut Sally Ride In The Challenger Series; Deets Inside
Kristen Stewart is all set to as Sally Ride in The Challenger, an upcoming TV series exploring NASA's diverse 1978 astronaut class and Ride's pivotal role in space history.
Kristen Stewart is set to make her television series debut in The Challenger, portraying Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, as per a report by Deadline.
The limited series, based on Meredith E. Bagby's book The New Guys, is produced by Kyra Sedgwick's Big Swing Productions in collaboration with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Partners. Maggie Cohn, known for her work on acclaimed series like American Crime Story and The Staircase, will be the writer and showrunner.
About Kristen Stewart's upcoming series The Challenger
The Challenger focuses on NASA's 1978 astronaut class, which is notable for its diversity as it included the first Black and Asian American astronauts and a married couple.
This group, nicknamed The F*cking New Guys by their predecessors, faced cultural clashes, ambitions, and personal relationships amidst rigorous training and groundbreaking achievements. Sally Ride, who broke barriers as the first LGBTQ+ astronaut and the first American woman to fly on the space shuttle, became a public figure after her historic spaceflight in 1983.
The series will explore Ride's journey from astronaut to national hero and her pivotal role in investigating the 1986 Challenger disaster, where she identified critical issues leading to the tragic explosion. The timing aims to coincide with the anniversary of the disaster, underlining its historical significance.
Following the announcement, Kristen Stewart's involvement in the series, which is also produced by Sedgwick, Bagby, and Valerie Stadler of Big Swing, .drew attention. Te actress passionately embraced the role and the project's storytelling. The series has garnered significant interest in the market, with Amazon close to securing rights amidst competitive bidding.
Kyra Sedgwick on Kristen Stewart's role as Sally Ride
Kyra Sedgwick explained to the Deadline that while Stewart has never done a TV series before "she became obsessed with telling the story of Sally Ride from her own unique perspective" after reading the story.
She also mentioned that the Spencer actress was "eloquent" and "stunning" during the pitch meetings and said that she passionately wanted to portray the story of the American hero who had to hide herself at the time.
“Who better to play Sally Ride than one of the great actors of her generation?" Sedgwick said about Stewart's casting, adding, "As dogged as we were about getting the script to her, she has been that dogged about getting it sold in the marketplace.”
Kyra Sedgwick reveals the project has been in the works since 2017
Sedgwick told Deadline, "This is something we’ve worked on at Big Swing since 2017, me, Meredith, and Valerie, about this new class of astronauts recruited by NASA in the early 1970s."
She added that Sally Ride was among the aforementioned group of astronauts and shared that the series will focus on the "newly recruited wild, feral group of astronauts who were all very diverse."
The series's auction was managed by WME and CAA, representing the key players involved.
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