Starz wrestling drama “Heels,” canceled last fall, might not be dead after all.
Lionsgate has licensed the show’s two seasons to Netflix, which has nonexclusive rights to air the 16 episodes. The show was shot in Georgia and set in a small Georgia town, focused around two brothers played by Stephen Amell and Alexander Ludwig operating a small-town wrestling league. Original episodes aired first on Starz in 2021 and 2023.
The publication also noted that Netflix has the option to shoot a third season in case the Netflix audience likes the show enough. But there is a complication: the two lead actors are currently committed to other TV shows right now.
Amell in February became the lead of NBC’s spinoff of “Suits” called “Suits: LA” which is likely to get picked up for the 2024-25 broadcast season.
Ludwig, in the meantime, is a lead in a six-episode MGM+ sci-fi drama called “Earth Abides.”
In recent years, Netflix has occasionally revived shows that had been canceled elsewhere like “Designated Survivor” (formerly on ABC), “You” (formerly on Lifetime) and “Lucifer” (formerly on Fox).
When “Heels” was in metro Atlanta, it used Atlanta’s Areu Bros. Studios, which is now Pangaea Studios, as its home base. That was Tyler Perry’s former studio before he moved to the much larger property where the Fort McPherson army base once resided.
The Hollywood Reporter noted that “Heels” will complement WWE’s “Monday Night Raw,” a long-time franchise that arrives on Netflix in January 2025.