Octavia Spencer & Hannah Waddingham To Star In New Prime Video Series From Tessa Coates

Rosy Cordero

19 December 2023 at 0:00 pm·2-min read

Oscar winner Octavia Spencer (Truth Be Told) and Emmy winner Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) are set to star in and executive produce a new comedy series from creator Tessa Coates (Feel Good). In a highly competitive situation with multiple bidders, the as-yet-untitled series from Skydance Television has landed at Prime Video with a straight-to-series order.

The 8-episode series, based on an original pitch from Coates, follows two best friends, Judith (Waddingham) and Debbie (Spencer), who know everything about each other—or do they? Unbeknownst to Debbie, Judith has been living a double life as a highly trained assassin. When a hit goes horribly wrong, the pair 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.

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Skydance Television produces in collaboration with Andy and Barbara Muschietti’s Double Dream and Spencer’s Orit Entertainment.

“I was in as soon as I heard Tessa’s stunning pitch. 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,” said Spencer. “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.”

“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,” Waddingham shared. “To then see the immediate excited response from a mighty beast like Amazon! It’s all just incredibly exciting, and I can’t wait to get our collective teeth into it!”

Waddingham is the first member of the main Ted Lasso cast to land a leading role in a series, putting a potential spinoff of the multiple Emmy Award-winning Apple TV+ series featuring her character Rebecca on the back burner, at least in the immediate future.

Coates will executive produce the series alongside Spencer, Brian Clisham and Stephanie Kluft for Orit Entertainment; Waddingham; Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti and Irene Yeung for Double Dream; and David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Matt Thunell for Skydance Television. Mark Mikutowicz and Blair Bigelow developed the project for Skydance.

The project is the first from Spencer’s production company Orit Entertainment’s first-look deal with Skydance Television.

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