Hilary Swank (Oscar winner for Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby) is set to star in and executive produce Netflix’s 10-episode space drama series Away, from playwright Andrew Hinderaker, Jason Katims, and Matt Reeves, according to Deadline. The series is written by Hinderaker and inspired by Chris Jones’ 2014 Esquire article of the same name.
The central character of Jones’ article was Scott Kelly, but Swank will play the character Emma Green, an American astronaut who leaves her husband and teenage daughter behind to command an international space crew embarking upon a dangerous year-long mission to the Red Planet, according to Variety. Since Swank played in the 2003 movie The Core, she is already quite familiar with dangerous missions into extreme environments, therefore Away should be “no sweat.” According to Netflix, the series is about “hope, humanity and how ultimately, we need one another if we are to achieve impossible things.”
The series is the most recent small screen project to explore the huge task of reaching the Red Planet in the last few years after Nat Geo aired the first season of their series Mars in 2016, and Hulu aired The First, which narrated fictional attempt to send the first manned mission to Mars, Variety reports.
Swank’s other film credits include P.S. I Love You. Her TV credits include Growing Pains and Beverly Hills 90210. She has recently played in the FX anthology series Trust.
Jessica Goldberg, creator and executive producer on True Jack/Uni TV’s Hulu series The Path, will serve as showrunner, writer, and executive producer of the show. Jason Katims (Parenthood) writes and executive produces. The other executive producers are Matt Reeves (Planet of the Apes), Adam Kassan, former True Jack executive Michelle Lee (episode 101 only) and current True Jack executive Jeni Mulein (episodes 102-110). Ed Zwick will direct the first episode and serve as an executive producer, Deadline reports.
Netflix has yet to reveal an air date for the drama series.