A television series on Madonna is in development at Netflix – with participation from the trailblazing pop star.
The 66-year-old singer is partnering with Netflix and the Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy for a limited series about her life and music.
The as-yet untitled project, first reported by Deadline, is unrelated to a previously announced musical biopic co-written by the singer that was set to star Julia Garner. That film, which lingered for years in development at Universal and reportedly employed a grueling bootcamp to audition some of the industry’s top young actors, was officially scrapped in 2023.
It is still unclear what part of Madonna’s life the new TV project, still in early development at the streaming company, would portray, or who would play the Michigan-bred star.
Though the film project’s cancellation was announced just days after she confirmed her globe-spanning the Celebration tour, Madonna reportedly still sought to have her life portrayed on screen, with sources telling Variety that she remained “committed to making a film about her life one day”.
“I want to convey the incredible journey that life has taken me on as an artist, a musician, a dancer – a human being, trying to make her way in this world,” she said in 2020. “There are so many untold and inspiring stories and who better to tell it than me.
“It’s essential to share the rollercoaster ride of my life with my voice and vision.”
Madonna co-wrote two drafts of the film’s script – one with Diablo Cody, with whom she co-hosted an unconventional Instagram Live writing session in late 2020, and one with The Girl on the Train’s scribe, Erin Cressida Wilson. Ozark star Garner won the role over the likes of Alexa Demie, Florence Pugh, Bebe Rexha and Odessa Young after a tough series of singing and dancing bootcamps widely reported in the press.
The singer’s most recent album, 2019’s Madame X, became the ninth No 1 of her career when it premiered atop the Billboard 200. Her Celebration tour, which ran from October 2023 to May 2024, was one of the fastest-selling tours of all time, with more than 1.2m tickets sold. She ultimately made $225.4m from the 80 shows, playing to an estimated 1.1 million people.
