‘The Challenger’: Kristen Stewart to Lead Prime Video’s New Historical Space Drama!!

Prime Video has officially greenlit The Challenger, a limited series from Big Swing Productions, Amblin Television, and Nevermind Pictures. Academy Award nominee Kristen Stewart will make her television debut starring as astronaut and physicist Sally Ride, who in 1978 became the first American woman to fly in space. An official summary for the series reads:

“The Challenger tells the gripping story of one of the most defining moments in space history, both the unprecedented events leading up to the tragedy, and the shocking investigation that followed. As the members of the 1986 Rogers Commission interrogate the complex inner workings of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to find what, or who, was responsible for the Challenger’s doomed fate, the show explores Commission member Sally Ride’s personal journey. We follow Sally, and the rest of the diverse Astronaut Class of ’78, through the ranks of the shuttle program, through initial recruitment and training, professional and personal highs and lows, until Sally’s historic glass ceiling moment as she becomes the first American woman in space.”

Ride was the first American woman in space, serving as a flight engineer aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983. She flew on a second mission in 1984, and was slated to be part of a third before the explosion of the Challenger in 1986 grounded all American space flights. Ride was subsequently part of the Rogers Commission that investigated the technical and systematic failures that led to the disaster. She left NASA and embarked on a career as a teacher and public educator, and also served on the 2003 panel that investigated the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Ride died of pancreatic cancer in 2011 at age 61; her obituary revealed for the first time that she had been the partner of scientist and tennis pro Tam O’Shaughnessy, making her the first LBGT astronaut, as well.

What Has Kristen Stewart Been Working on Lately?

Last year saw Stewart‘s feature directorial debut, The Chronology of Water, premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. An adaptation of the memoirs of Lidia Yuknavitch, the film centered around a woman (Imogen Poots) who uses her passions for swimming and writing to escape an abusive home life. Next up, she’s co-written The Wrong Girls, a stoner comedy directed by her wife, Dylan Meyer, in her directorial debut; Stewart and Alia Shawkat will play a pair of weed enthusiasts who get caught up in a case of mistaken identity. She’s also set to star in Quentin Dupieux‘s absurdist comedy Full Phil; she’ll star with Woody Harrelson as an estranged father-daughter duo who take a trip to Paris, only to be waylaid by a series of misfortunes. Stewart is also attached to Flesh of the Gods, the latest film from horror auteur Panos Cosmatos (Beyond the Black Rainbow); she’ll star alongside Oscar Isaac as a rich couple who get drawn into an underworld of nightmarish debauchery.

The Challenger is created by Maggie Cohn (The Staircase); she will also write, executive produce, and showrun the series. James Hawes (Slow Horses) will executive produce and direct; he previously directed a TV movie, The Challenger Disaster, that starred Eve Best as Sally Ride. Executive producers on the series include Stewart, Meyer, actor Kyra Sedgwick, and author Meredith E. Bagby, whose 2023 book, The New Guys, is the source material for the series.