Samuel L. Jackson Boards Peacock’s Muhammad Ali Limited Series ‘Fight Night’

Rosy Cordero
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Samuel L. Jackson (The Marvel Cinematic Universe, Pulp Fiction) has joined the Peacock Muhammad Ali limited series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist. He will portray Frank Moten, a real-life underworld kingpin coined the Black Godfather by the NY tabloids.

The project reunites Jackson with Craig Brewer, who will direct the first two episodes of the show. The pair previously collaborated on the 2006 film Black Snake Moan.

More from Deadline

The series will tell the story of how on the night of Ali’s defeat of Jerry Quarry, which came after he was banned from boxing for refusing to enter the military draft, hundreds of guests at an after-party were robbed at gunpoint, becoming one of the largest armed robberies the country has ever seen. Fight Night, set in Atlanta, will focus on the cop and the hustler, at the center of it all.

Kevin Hart will star in and produce the limited series which landed a series order at Peacock in December. It is based on the eponymous iHeartPodcast and comes from Shaye Ogbonna and Will Packer.

Ogbonna and Echo 3 exec producer Jason Horwitch will serve as showrunners on the series. They will exec produce alongside Hart, Bryan Smiley and Mike Stein for Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat, Packer and Sabrina Wind for Will Packer Media, Conal Byrne, Will Pearson and Carrie Lieberman for iHeartPodcasts, Jeff Keating and Lars Jacobson. The project hails from Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.

Most recently, Jackson reprised the MCU character Nick Fury in last year’s The Marvels. On deck for 2024, he will star in the historical epic The Unholy Trinity alongside Pierce Brosnan; Netflix’s The Piano Lesson with Corey Hawkins and John David Washington; The Garfield Movie from Columbia Pictures; and the Apple Original Film Argylle.

For more than four decades, Jackson has been a Hollywood fixture entertaining audiences in a variety of film and TV projects. He is best known for his work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Nick Fury, Mace Windu in the Star Wars franchise and his collabs with Quentin Tarantino, particularly his portrayal of Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction.

He is repped by Anonymous Content, CAA and Jackoway Austen Tyerman et al.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.