Prime Video series 'The Challenger' casts former 'Arrested Development' star alongside Kristen Stewart
Prime Video's upcoming limited drama series 'The Challenger' has cast a seven-time Emmy Award nominee to play a prominent role. Will Arnett will star alongside Kristen Stewart in the upcoming series, which doesn't yet have a release date. Stewart will star as the famous astronaut Sally Ride, while Arnett portrays NASA official George Abbey. The series is inspired by the Meredith E. Bagby book 'The New Guys,' which was first published in 2023. Prime Video had first greenlit 'The Challenger' in March, marking one of Stewart's most significant television roles to date.
The official logline of 'The Challenger' reads that the series will revisit "the events leading up to the Challenger disaster, the investigation that followed, and Sally Ride’s groundbreaking journey as the first American woman in space." The series is being produced by Stewart's own Nevermind Pictures, along with Amblin Television and Big Swing Productions. As is widely known, Abbey served as NASA's director of flight operations and was also responsible for assigning Ride to the crew of a 1983 mission aboard the space shuttle Challenger. This landmark event made Ride the first American woman in space.
Abbey then became the director of the Johnson Space Center. On the other hand, Ride flew one more space shuttle mission before joining the ground-based flight control team and supervising several additional missions. She subsequently served on the commission that investigated the tragic 1986 explosion of the Challenger. The upcoming limited series is created by Maggie Cohn of 'Impeachment: American Crime Story' and 'The Staircase' fame, and she also serves as the showrunner and writer. Cohn also executive produces in association with the series director, James Hawes. On the other hand, Valerie Stadler and Kyra Sedgwick serve as executive producers for Big Swing Productions. Dylan Meyer and Maggie McLean are producing via Nevermind Pictures, alongside Stewart and Bagby, while Amblin Television is represented by Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank.
Arnett's most recent ventures include the feature film 'Is This Thing On', on which he also served as a co-writer, as well as acting. He also appeared on the Paramount+ show 'The Madison' as a guest. Apart from these, the 'SmartLess' co-host is also popular for his contribution to 'Twisted Metal' and 'The Morning Show,' alongside appearing in titles like '30 Rock,' 'BoJack Horseman,' and 'Arrested Development.' Elsewhere, Arnett has several upcoming projects lined up, one of which is the film 'Behemoth!' directed by Tony Gilroy. Arnett is slated to appear alongside 'The Last of Us' star Pedro Pascal, Olivia Wilde, and Matthew Lillard in 'Behemoth'. The seven-time Emmy nominee is professionally represented by CAA and Sloane Offer.
