The Shohei Ohtani gambling scandal is headed for television.
According to Puck’s Matthew Belloni, Starz has picked up a scripted series centered on the betting scandal involving Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. The project, first announced by Lionsgate back in May 2024, will be written by Alex Convery, best known for penning “Air,” the 2023 sports drama about Nike’s courtship of Michael Jordan.
Fun news: The Shohei Ohtani scripted TV series about the gambling scandal is officially happening. STARZ just bought it, and Alex Convery (AIR) is writing. Gotta go unknowns on the casting, right?
— Matthew Belloni (@MattBelloni) July 29, 2025
This marks Convery’s first foray into TV writing.
Scott Delman and Albert Chen are onboard as producers. Delman’s background spans high-profile Broadway productions (“The Book of Mormon,” “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”) and prestige TV (including “Station Eleven”). Chen brings a sports journalism pedigree, having written “Billion Dollar Fantasy,” contributed to Sports Illustrated and MLB Network, and hosted the All-American podcast.
Max Elins will oversee the project for Lionsgate Television.
It’s also worth noting that while Lionsgate and Starz were once under the same umbrella, they officially split into separate companies in May 2025.
The real-life scandal broke wide open when federal prosecutors charged Mizuhara with bank fraud, alleging he stole nearly $17 million from Ohtani to pay off gambling debts. The Dodgers immediately cut ties with Mizuhara. He later turned himself in and has agreed to plead guilty, per the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
As Belloni notes, casting the show may prove tricky, especially given the sensitivity of the subject and Ohtani’s global profile. And he’s probably right in saying “Gotta go unknowns on the casting, right?” because it’s hard to imagine a recognizable actor stepping into the role of Ohtani, let alone Mizuhara, without distracting from the story.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.