Not everything is going just peachy when it comes to the Rockford Peaches.
Based on the true story and inspired by Penny Marshall’s hit 1992 film of the same name, Amazon Prime Video’s “A League of Their Own” captures the all-women baseball league during WWII. “Broad City” showrunner Abbi Jacobson co-created, stars, and executive produces the eight-episode series, which premieres on the streamer on August 12. “Mozart in the Jungle” helmer Will Graham co-created the show.
Centered on the real-life all-female traveling baseball league formed in 1943, “A League of Their Own” introduces entirely new characters separate from the film. Jacobson stars as Carson, a catcher who joins a team during WWII and seems to spark a romance with slugger Greta (D’Arcy Carden). Chanté Adams (“A Journal for Jordan”) co-leads as baseball phenom Max, a composite character representing real-life Negro League players Mamie Johnson, Connie Morgan, and Toni Stone. Scene-stealer Gbemisola Ikumelo (“Sex Education”) is Max’s “chosen sister” Clance. Nick Offerman (“Parks and Recreation”) also plays the head coach of the Rockford Peaches, taking over Tom Hanks’ role from the original.
Marshall consulted on the series before her death in 2018, and real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League alum Maybelle Blair also served as inspiration for the show. The series sheds light on the racial barriers for Black players, with the league only allowing white or white-passing women to join teams. Sexuality is also explored through queer romances involving various players.
The theme for the series is rooted in the “transformative quality of joy” and the purpose of finding a true team both on and off the field, according to co-creator Graham during the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of the series. “I think the line that D’Arcy says in the pilot, ‘As long as we’re here, let’s do this, let’s rob the bank,’ is kind of how all of us feel about the show,” Graham said, “where it’s like it’s crazy that we’re getting to tell these kind of stories so we feel a lot of responsibility to do it really well and do it in a fun way and a way that hopefully everyone can relate to.”
“A League of Their Own” premieres August 12 on Amazon Prime Video. Check out the trailer below.
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