Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman set to front new sailing docuseries
Welcome to Wrexham with fewer footballers and more pirates
Hear the names Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in a news title, and there are many projects that spring to mind as potential blockbusters. It’s Deadpool and Wolverine after all; they could pitch a show about paint drying and still get a greenlight from a production studio.
Reynolds proved there was some serious interest in a sports-based sports docuseries with his show Welcome to Wexham, following the ups and downs of the Welsh team’s season following his personal stake in the club. Now, he and Hugh Jackman will be fronting a new series all about sailing – Welcome to, erm, Water, anyone?
Disney+ has officially greenlit a docuseries following SailGP’s Australian team, Bonds Flying Roos, co-owned coincidentally by Reynolds and Jackman. The series will follow the Flying Roos across a global racing season defined by speed, pressure, and high stakes, according to the synopsis. The media release announced “a stadium style championship where identical 50-foot catamarans race in close-to-shore courses at speeds of up to 100 km/h.
If you’re not a banking nepo baby with a house in the Hamptons, nor raised in a small fishing village on the British coast and therefore not au fait with sailing, SailGP is basically the sailing racing league. Imagine Wimbledon or Silverstone but for sailing. SailGP - officially known as the Rolex SailGP Championship - is a yearly competition where national teams race identical high-performance catamarans (a type of boat).
The competition is a series that runs over 11-12 months, with multiple grands prix taking place across the world, with teams earning points at each event, contributing toward an overall season championship. The competition kicked off its inaugural season in 2019; currently, X-Men and almost X-Men Jackman and Reynolds’ team, the Bonds Flying Roos, hold the most titles with three wins, with the more local Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team being the most recent champions.
Jackman and Reynolds’ team is led by driver and CEO Tom Slingsby who also happens to be an Olympic gold medallist, America’s World Cup winner, and a three-time SailGP champion.
“This is our first collaboration since Deadpool & Wolverine and we once again anticipate action, comedy, heart but with a lot more water. And (fingers crossed) pirates. We hope there’s pirates inSailGP,” said Jackman and Reynolds, co-owners of the Bonds Flying Roos.
“Following Ryan, Hugh and the SailGP’s Bonds Flying Roos Australian team’s journey gives us a remarkable inside view of this thrilling sport and what it takes to compete at the highest level. We couldn’t be more excited to bring this story to Disney+ audiences around the world,” said EricSchrier, president, direct-to-consumer international originals, strategic programming, and emerging media.
Is the show essentially Welcome to Wrexham on the high seas? Quite possibly, yes. The docuseries will have Wrexham AFC co-chairman and exec producer Rob Mac on board as a producer.
We don’t have a date yet for when the series will be available, but we know it will stream exclusively on Disney+ internationally and on Disney+ and Hulu in the US.
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