A League of Their Own, the 1992 film directed by Penny Marshall, is a beloved portrayal of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), a real baseball league created in 1943 to provide sports entertainment while male athletes were fighting in World War 2. Now the story of the AAGPBL is returning as an eight-episode Amazon Prime Video series co-created by Abbi Jacobson (Broad City) and Will Graham. When is the new League of Their Own coming out? How will it diverge from the original film? Here’s what you need to know!
The Cast
One of the ways the series will diverge from the film is in the cast of characters. “I don’t think any characters are really mapped on to anyone [from the original movie],” Jacobson told The Hollywood Reporter in July. “D’Arcy [Carden’s] character has a Madonna vibe but is nothing like that character, at all. Melanie Fields’ character, Joe, is a little bit of a Rosie visual.”
Abbi Jacobson will star as Carson Shaw, a small-time farm girl who dreams of playing professional baseball.
D’arcy Carden (The Good Place) will play Greta, first basewoman.
Chanté Adams (Bad Hair) will play Max, a pitcher who disguises herself as a man so that she can play in the men’s Negro League.
The series will also feature the following lead cast members:
- Roberta Colindrez as Lupe
- Gbemisola Ikumelo as Clance
- Kelly McCormack as Jess
- Roberta Colindrez as Mita
- Priscilla Delgado as Esti González
- Melanie Field as Jo
- Nick Offerman as Casey “Dove” Porter, loosely based on Tom Hanks’s Jimmy Dugan
Trailer and Plot
The plot of the series will loosely follow the plot of the film, which depicts the formation of the AAGPBL and the lives of the women who played in it. However, the series will delve deeper into aspects of the league that the movie only nodded to, or left out completely.
One important way the series will diverge from the movie is in its depiction of the Black women who were excluded from the AAGPBL. The original movie includes one scene in which an anonymous Black woman throws a ball to Gina Davis’s Dotty, and Dotty is impressed by the throw. In the series, Max and the other Black players will be integral to the plot.
Another important change is the series’s depiction of queer players. One of the show’s consultants, AAGPBL player Maybelle Blair, came out during the series’ screening at the Tribeca Film Festival. She told The Hollywood Reporter that “When Penny made the movie, they left out a lot of [the players’ sexuality] because it wasn’t the time to reveal it as much. [The series] is telling the real, truthful story.”
Release Date
All eight episodes of A League of Their Own will premiere on August 12 on Amazon Prime Video.
(image: Amazon)
Published: Aug 8, 2022 12:06 pm