Kevin Hart to Star in ‘Fight Night’ Crime Drama at Peacock
The series will tell the story of a heist at Muhammad Ali's 1970 comeback fight in Atlanta.
Kevin Hart, Shaye Ogbonna, Jason Horwitch, and Will Packer
Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images; Courtesy of Victoria Stevens; Courtesy of Peacock; Courtesy of Peacock/The Decisive Moment EventPeacock and Kevin Hart are stepping into the boxing ring.
The NBCUniversal streamer has ordered a limited series titled Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist that will tell the story of an armed robbery orchestrated around Muhammad Ali’s 1970 comeback fight in Atlanta. Hart will star in the series and serve as an executive producer.
Fight Night is based on an iHeart podcast written by Jeff Keating (who also hosted) and Jim Roberts. Shaye Ogbonna (The Chi) created the TV series and will serve as showrunner along with Jason Horwitch (Peacock’s The Calling, Apple TV+’s Echo 3). The show comes from Universal Television, Will Packer Media (which also produced the podcast) and Doghouse Pictures. Craig Brewer (Dolemite Is My Name) is set to direct the first two episodes.
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The series will tell “the infamous story of how an armed robbery during the night of Muhammad Ali’s historic 1970 comeback fight changed not only one man’s life, but an entire city’s destiny,” according to the show’s logline. It centers on the hustler at the center of the robbery and the detective, one of the first Black Atlanta police officers to rise to that rank, tasked with solving it.
Fight Night continues a relationship both Hart and Packer have with Peacock. Hart hosts and executive produces the talk series Hart to Heart and premiered a stand-up special, Reality Check, on the streamer earlier this year. Packer has a long history with Universal in both film and TV and has produced feature film Praise This at Peacock.
Showrunners Ogbonna and Horwitch will executive produce Fight Night with Hart, Bryan Smiley and Mike Stein for Hartbeat; Packer and Sabrina Wind for Will Packer Media; Conal Byrne, Will Pearson and Carrie Lieberman for iHeartPodcasts; and Brewer, Keating and Lars Jacobson, who was an EP of the podcast. Hartbeat’s Tiffany Brown and Studio 43’s Kenny Burns are co-EPs.
Hart is repped by 3 Arts Entertainment, UTA and Schreck Rose. Packer and Will Packer Media are with CAA, Collective Edge, Johnson Shapiro and R&C PMK. Ogbonna is repped by Verve, 3 Arts and Ginsburg Daniels. Horwitch is repped by WME, Manage-ment and Renee Farrell. Jacobson is with Paradigm, Circle of Confusion, and The Nord Group. Hartbeat’s general counsel, Candisse Williamson, represented the company in the deal.