Following the popularity of The Last Dance, ESPN already has its sights set on another monster docuseries. It was announced on Thursday afternoon that Tom Brady will be at the center of a nine-part documentary titled Man in the Arena, which is set to drop sometime in 2021.
ESPN dropped a trailer in anticipation of the series, which will be produced by Gotham Chopra’s Religion of Sports and Brady’s 199 Productions. While information is sparse on what it will cover, the trailer appears to indicate that it’ll include Brady’s collegiate and NFL career, and in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Brady indicated this will chronicle “the key moments and challenges that were seemingly insurmountable, but through hard work and perseverance, became career-defining triumphs, in both victory and defeat.”
“Nine Super Bowl appearances over the course of 20 years is an achievement on an unmatched level,” ESPN Executive Vice President of Content Connor Schell said in a statement. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Tom Brady as he reflects on each of those nine, season-long journeys and the pivotal moments that defined them.”Gotham Chopra is a highly skilled filmmaker who I am confident will bring to life this story of an icon in a new and revealing way.”
There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about this one, namely that while Brady and Jordan were both excellent athletes, the public perception of the two could not be more different — Jordan was beloved, while Brady was never particularly popular, outside of perhaps his first Super Bowl run or two. Jordan was also a much larger cultural phenomenon than Brady, and of course, The Last Dance happened more than two decades after Jordan’s final season, while Brady is still in the league.