Octavia Spencer and ‘Ted Lasso’ Star Hannah Waddingham to Co-Star in New Prime Video Action Series

Prime Video has tapped Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures) and Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso, Game of Thrones) to co-star in an untitled television series. 

The project emerged as an original pitch from series creator and executive producer Tessa Coates. We know this will be an eight-episode series top lined with Spencer and Waddingham as two close friends, where one of them is hiding a secret that she is an assassin. 

Based on the official synopsis:

The series follows two best friends, Judith (Waddingham) and Debbie (Spencer), who know everything about each other … well, almost everything. Judith has been living a double life that Debbie knows nothing about: she is a highly trained assassin. When a hit goes horribly wrong, Judith and Debbie must go on the run together and work to repair their broken friendship—all while being targeted by a mysterious enemy who wants them dead. And only together, can they solve this layered mystery.

The premise peaked Spencer’s interest, and she said “I was in as soon as I heard Tessa’s stunning pitch,” she said. “To be able to dive into a role like Debbie is rare, and working with Hannah to bring this unique friendship to life is a dream. We knew we had something special with Skydance and Double Dream, and now that we have a home at Amazon, our vision has become a reality.”

Waddingham added she was pretty excited to work with Spencer and Coates team.

“I’m not gonna lie, a few expletives fell out of my face at the prospect of working with the magnificent Ms. Spencer, Tessa Coates’ hugely energetic, exhilarating script, Skydance and Double Dream,” she said. “To then see the immediate excited response for a mighty beast like Amazon! It’s all just incredibly exciting, and I can’t wait to get our collective teeth into it!”

The series is the first from Skydance’s high profile first-look deal with Orit Entertainment, founded by Spencer. Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios and Matt Thunell, president of Skydance Television added their positive reinforcement for the new series, with Salke quoted as saying that Amazon MGM Studios were “blown away” and called it “one-of-a-kind comedy.”

“Tessa’s pitch delivered it all—fantastically original characters, a great story, the amazing creative talents of Octavia and Hannah and so much fun,” Salke said. “We are over the moon to work with them all plus the dream teams at Skydance, Double Dream, and Orit Entertainment.”

“The process of developing this series has been one of the most joyous of our careers, starting with the inimitable Tessa Coates. Tessa’s voice and vision lured our incredible producers, Barbara and Andy Muschietti, who were instrumental in developing the project, as well as the dream casting of Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham,” added Thunell. “We are so proud to be making this show with Amazon; this team has created a series that will make audiences around the world laugh, cry, and cheer.”

Both Spencer and Waddingham will serve as executive producers alongside Coates, Thunell and the Muschettis. Also executive producing, includes Brian Clisham, Orit Entertainment’s Stephanie Kluft, Double Dream’s Irene Yeung, David Ellison and Dana Goldberg. Skydance’s Blair Bigelow and Mark Mikutowicz are developing the series.

The post Octavia Spencer and ‘Ted Lasso’ Star Hannah Waddingham to Co-Star in New Prime Video Action Series first appeared on The Source.

The post Octavia Spencer and ‘Ted Lasso’ Star Hannah Waddingham to Co-Star in New Prime Video Action Series appeared first on The Source.