AMC Studios Series will be Produced in Association with A+E Studios and Thruline Entertainment
NEW YORK – March 8, 2022 – AMC Networks today announced that it had greenlit a new dramatic series for 2023 starring Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul), The Driver. Produced by AMC Studios, in association with A+E Studios and Thruline Entertainment, The Driver will have a six-episode first season and premiere next year on AMC+ and AMC.
Sunu Gonera (Class of 09) and Danny Brocklehurst (The Stranger) created the series based on a U.K. format created by Brocklehurst and Jim Poyser. Gonera and Brocklehurst reimagined the U.K. format into a one-hour drama series about a taxi driver (Esposito) whose life is turned upside down when he agrees to chauffer a New Orleans-based Zimbabwean gangster notorious for exploiting undocumented immigrants at the U.S. southern ports. Theo Travers (Billions) will serve as showrunner and Gonera will direct the pilot.
“Giancarlo is a singular talent who is already beloved by AMC viewers through his standout performances in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul,” said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks. “We are excited to be continuing his relationship with AMC and AMC+ in a series built around him and an unforgettable character who takes what he thinks is a straightforward job opportunity and finds himself confronted with a world that tests him in ways he could never have imagined.”
Esposito said: “I am over the moon excited, enthused, and inspired to be in collaboration with the stellar network and creative team of AMC! Thanks for believing in me. It’s great to be back home!”
Brocklehurst said: “It is a pleasure and a privilege to be working with AMC on this bold reimagining of my U.K. mini-series. Sunu Gonera and Theo Travers have both brought superb original voices to the premise and I am thrilled to be going on this ride with them.”
Gonera said: “It’s surreal to be at this point. This whole journey started as a simple conversation four years ago in my manager Josh Kesselman’s living room when he said, ‘Giancarlo is keen to play an everyman as his next role. There’s a British show he loves called The Driver. Would you watch the pilot and see if you could come up with a take you both could get excited about?’ Um, would I? You had me at Giancarlo and everyman.”
Travers said: “I couldn’t be more excited to help bring this show to life. I’ve been a fan of Giancarlo’s work since Spike Lee’s ‘Do The Right Thing.’ It’s a true honor to have the chance to collaborate with him in this way. The Driver is a high-voltage, dark identity quest for an everyman trying to find renewed purpose in his life. We’re rooting for Vince as he goes down this wild and nihilistic route to discover who he once was, and in many ways still is, because it gets him out of a stuck place. That’s where a lot of us feel we are right now, which makes this series so timely for today.”
“We are thrilled to partner with AMC Studios and Giancarlo Esposito on The Driver, a timely and thought-provoking must-watch series that addresses our current cultural changes and is sure to resonate with viewers,” said Barry Jossen, president, and head of A+E Studios and Tana Jamieson, executive vice president, creative affairs for A+E Studios. “Together with Danny Brocklehurst, Sunu Gonera and Theo Travers, A+E Studios and our producing partners at Thruline will deliver another high-quality show for AMC.”
Esposito, Gonera, Brocklehurst and Travers will executive produce alongside Josh Kesselman and Danny Sherman from Thruline and, from A+E Studios, Jossen and Jamieson.
Esposito’s representatives are ICM, Thruline Entertainment, Jackoway Austen Tyerman, and ImPRint.
The Driver joins three other recent greenlights on the schedule for AMC+ and AMC for 2023, Isle of the Dead, Demascus and Invitation to a Bonfire. In 2022, AMC+ and AMC viewers will have access to a remarkable lineup of original programming, including final seasons of the popular and critically acclaimed series The Walking Dead, Killing Eve and Better Call Saul, returning originals like Kevin Can F**K Himself, Fear the Walking Dead and Gangs of London and a wide array of new series including the gritty courtroom drama 61st Street, Dark Winds, Tales of the Walking Dead, Moonhaven, That Dirty Black Bag and the first two series in an Anne Rice universe, Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire and Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches.
Photo provided by AMC.
About AMC Networks Inc.
AMC Networks (Nasdaq: AMCX) is a global entertainment company known for its popular and critically-acclaimed content. Its brands include targeted streaming services AMC+, Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now, ALLBLK, and the newest addition to its targeted streaming portfolio, the anime-focused HIDIVE streaming service, in addition to AMC, BBC AMERICA (operated through a joint venture with BBC Studios), IFC, SundanceTV, WE tv and IFC Films. AMC Studios, the Company’s in-house studio, production and distribution operation, is behind some of the biggest titles and brands known to a global audience, including The Walking Dead, the Anne Rice catalog and the Agatha Christie library. The Company also operates AMC Networks International, its international programming business, and 25/7 Media, its production services business.
About A+E Studios
Launched in 2013, A+E Studios is the award-winning studio unit of the global media company A+E Networks, LLC. A+E Studios is an industry leader in the creation, production, and distribution of high-quality scripted entertainment across all linear and non-linear platforms. A+E Studios serves as a primary scripted programming supplier for the A+E Networks portfolio. A+E Studio’s slate of programming consists of scripted series, event series, and movies. A+E Studios produced titles include the hit drama series “Big Sky” from David E. Kelley for ABC, Peabody Award-winning “UnREAL,” “Project Blue Book” and the Emmy-nominated event miniseries “Roots” for The HISTORY Channel, the animated drama series “The Liberator” for Netflix, the drama series “Reprisal” from Warren Littlefield for Hulu, as well as “YOU” from Berlanti Productions and Alloy Entertainment with Warner Horizon Scripted Television for Netflix.
Upcoming projects from A+E Studios include the drama series “The Lincoln Lawyer” from David E. Kelley for Netflix based on the popular novels by Michael Connelly, mystery drama series “Avalon” from David E. Kelley and Michael Connelly for ABC, based on a Michael Connelly short story, and “Flowers in the Attic: The Origin” miniseries for Lifetime based on the work of author V.C. Andrews. A+E Studios currently has over seventy projects in active development at Netflix, Showtime, Peacock, HBO Max, AMC, FOX, and multiple international platforms as part of its locally originated programming strategy. Its first local-language production, supernatural thriller “The Malevolent Bride” from “Our Boys creator Noah Stollman, will air in 2022 exclusively on KAN 11, Israel’s Public Broadcaster. A+E Studios also acquired the exclusive rights to bestselling author Sue Grafton’s acclaimed Alphabet Mystery book series.
About Thruline Entertainment
Thruline Entertainment is a Beverly Hills-based management and production company. Thruline’s television production credits include the Emmy and Golden Globe nominated Hulu original series The Great, starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, which was recently renewed for a third season; the long-running USA procedural dramedy Psych; and, Hulu’s I Love You America among numerous network and variety pilots. Feature credits include the upcoming MGM feature Combat Control with Jake Gyllenhaal set to star and Sam Hargrave directing; Malevolent, the Netflix horror film starring Florence Pugh, Celia Imrie and Ben Lloyd-Hughes; the Hulu documentaries Batman & Bill and Obey Giant; and Emmy nominated Believer, which premiered at Sundance and is now available on HBO. Our development slate includes projects set up at Netflix, Amazon, FOX, 20th Television, A+E Studios, Universal Cable Productions, and Universal Television among others.
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