A limited series about Tom Brady and his New England Patriots dynasty is in the works from screenwriters Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson, who earned an Oscar nomination for The Fighter.
The Patriot Way will be based on Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge‘s bestselling book 12: The Inside Story of Tom Brady’s Fight for Redemption, which was published in 2018 between the franchise’s Super Bowl victories over the Atlanta Falcons and the L.A. Rams.
The series will chronicle Brady’s miraculous NFL journey from sixth-round draft pick to the unquestioned GOAT. It will cover Brady’s Super Bowl wins and losses, the Spygate and Deflategate scandals, Aaron Hernandez‘s legal troubles, the QB’s bond with receivers such as Julian Edelman, Wes Welker, and Danny Amendola, and his relationship with his legendary coach, Bill Belichick.
Ellen Goldsmith-Vein (The Maze Runner) will produce for the Gotham Group, but Brady himself won’t be involved in the series, as he’s developing his own projects these days under his 199 Productions banner. It’s unclear whether Robert Kraft‘s Patriots organization will participate in The Patriot Way, though it did participate in the recent comedy 80 For Brady, while the Boston Red Sox were convinced to participate in Tamasy and Johnson’s Patriots Day.
That unlikely 2016 masterpiece was adapted from Sherman and Wedge’s book Boston Strong, and Tamasy and Johnson also previously adapted Sherman’s book The Finest Hours, so The Patriot Way is actually the third collaboration between the authors and the scribes.
“Our series will bring the audience inside Gillette Stadium… to shed new light on the thrilling, historic come-from-behind victories; the dark side of success; and building a culture of winning at all costs,” Johnson and Tamasy told Deadline, which broke the news.
“As journalists, we had a front-row seat for all the incredible drama that has unfolded both before and after the New England Patriots won their first Super Bowl. It’s a rich, character-driven story that probably will not be duplicated in our lifetime,” added Sherman and Wedge.
The Patriot Way doesn’t have a director, but Johnson and Tamasy should consider their past collaborators such as Peter Berg (Patriots Day) or Craig Gillespie (The Finest Hours), the latter of whom did a great job with the Tonya Harding movie. I would’ve included David O. Russell (The Fighter) on that list, but he’s currently working on a project about another NFL figure — John Madden.
As far as the role of Brady is concerned, I hope they’ll consider Taylor John Smith, who starred in Where the Crawdads Sing, Shadow in the Cloud, and HBO’s Sharp Objects. He’d have to fill out a bit, but I think the 28-year-old could realistically play Brady in his 20s and his 30s.
Circle of Confusion represents Johnson and Tamasy, while the authors are repped by UTA and Gotham Group.
