Tom Brady to Produce Scripted Series Based on the Life of John Madden Helmed by Gavin O'Connor

by Darian Scalamoni

    It was over a year ago in which Tom Brady had announced his retirement from football with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before announcing his return for one final season in 2022. Now, though Brady has filed his official retirement papers with the NFL, he's aiming to ramp up his producing powers across Hollywood with a buzzy new project. According to an exclusive from Deadline, Brady will be teaming with Gavin O'Connor (The Accountant, Warrior) as a producer to bring about a scripted biographical series revolving around the life and career of John Madden.

    The series will be helmed by O'Connor with a script written by Alex Sohn. Brady has assembled an all-star team of producers that not only includes his production company, 199 Productions but also Gotham Chopra and his Religion of Sports banner as well as Todd Lieberman's Hidden Pictures. Though the television series is not set up at a network or streaming service yet, the creatives behind the show will finish writing the scripts before sending it out for sale and then will cast their Madden. The former Oakland Raiders head coach, broadcaster and video game icon is synonymous as one of the faces of football and whoever steps into those shoes could be looking at awards potential. My pick as of now is John Goodman to at least play the older version of Madden.

    Additionally, Gavin O'Connor seems to be a truly inspired choice due to his directorial efforts across the sports film circuit. His most recent film, The Way Back starred Ben Affleck as a recovering alcoholic who coaches a basketball team within his community. He's also directed Mixed Martial Arts drama Warrior, which is, in my opinion, one of the greatest sports films of all-time. He also directed Miracle, a U.S. hockey story revolving around coach Herb Brooks and the triumphant Olympic victory for the United States over the Soviets. O'Connor and Brady originally came together with the idea of Madden's life story being chronicled as a feature film, but they felt two hours was not enough time to tell the story justice.

    What are your thoughts on John Madden's life being chronicled as a television series? Who would you like to see play him on screen? Let us know in the comment section!