Sports documentaries have long been a targeted area of content for many streaming services, and it looks like Discovery+ is getting into that arena more. They’ve previously done several documentaries, especially on cricket and soccer, but their next project is much more North America-centric. Legacy: In The Shadow of Greatness, from 11-time Emmy winner Jonathan Hock, is a six-episode series that will air weekly on the service beginning March 8. It focuses on young athletes Zaire Wade, Evan Holyfield, and Vashti Cunningham, and their relationships with their noted athletic fathers Dwyane Wade, Evander Holyfield, and Randall Cunningham. Here’s a trailer that was released earlier this week:
One of the most notable parts of this is Hock’s involvement. Hock has directed a lot of praised sports documentaries over the years, including several 30 for 30/ESPN Films installments (Survive and Advance, The Best That Never Was, Unguarded, Of Miracles and Men, One and Not Done, World Beaters, and The Dominican Dream), SI Films’ 14 Back, SEC and ACC Network films, and more. And it’s certainly interesting to see him shifting his focus to these relationships between famous fathers and their children.
It’s good to see Discovery+ continue their own dive into sports documentaries. There have been some Discovery moves on sports before, especially with golf and with various European rights, but they’ve been a smaller North American player there to date in comparison to many other streaming services. And yes, the planned WarnerMedia/Discovery merger may add a lot of sports content to Discovery’s portfolio (although it’s still unclear what, if any, plans there are for combining or bundling HBO Max and Discovery+), but it’s notable to see these kinds of Discovery moves on sports before that. We’ll see how this one turns out.
[Discovery Plus on YouTube]
