Magic Mike’s Last Dance may be gaining a leading lady. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Thandiwe Newton, best known for her work in HBO’s Westworld, is in talks to ride the pony all the way onto the franchise to lead alongside returning star, Channing Tatum.
The new film is set to air on HBO Max and plans to bring many members of the original film’s production crew back, including director Steven Soderbergh who stayed a wallflower for 2015’s Magic Mike XXL. Screenplay writer Reid Carolin is also set to return to pen the new film’s script. Carolin will produce the film alongside Gregory Jacobs, Nick Wechsler, and Peter Kiernan.
As mentioned above, Tatum will return to the Warner Bros. film franchise as Mike Lane, the film’s leading man. In the original movie, which came out in 2012, Mike is living paycheck to paycheck as a gig worker, taking on jobs such as handyman and car detailer. At nighttime, his life heats up as he performs as the head honcho in an all-male revue. When a new performer, nicknamed the Kid, comes to the club in search of a job, Mike takes the young man under his wing. Things get tricky for Mike when he begins to fall for the Kid’s sister as he must now juggle this new budding romance and his life as the hottest dancer in town.
Magic Mike, which was loosely based on Tatum’s own experiences before his breakaway acting career, was an immediate hit and raked in $167 million at the box office. When the 2015 sequel came out, it only added to the film’s earnings, grossing a combined total of almost $300 million. The films were so popular that the action has even moved off-screen. In 2017, Magic Mike Live, a live production in Las Vegas, premiered.
The live-action event was such a hit that it spawned offshoots in London, Berlin, and Australia. Recently, the stage performance announced that it will turn into a traveling show across North America, debuting in Nashville, Tennessee on April 6, 2022. In addition to the live show, HBO Max will be airing a competition series titled Finding Magic Mike, which is set to follow several men that are on a journey to rediscover their sexiness as they face off against each other to determine who the real Mike is. The series will soon premiere on HBO Max on December 16.
Newton’s role has yet to be named, but as mentioned above, she would star as the film’s lead. The talented actress has three Emmy nominations under her belt for her work on Westworld and has just starred in the feature film Reminiscence.
via Collider