Starz lands scripted adaptation of Shohei Ohtani translator gambling scandal

A scripted drama about the gambling scandal involving Japanese MLB star Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara is making its way to Starz.

The series, which Lionsgate Television has been working on since April 2024, will be sold to Starz, according to Rick Porter in The Hollywood Reporter. Lionsgate is the former parent company of Starz, but the two formally separated in May of this year.

Prior reports indicated that Lionsgate was having trouble selling the project to companies such as Disney, Apple, Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix, and Comcast — all of whom have media rights agreements with MLB — because those companies wanted to protect their relationships with the league.

Mizuhara was formally sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison earlier this year after pleading guilty to one count of bank fraud and another count of submitting a false tax return.

The show seems to focus on Mizuhara, with the logline saying the series will tell “the inside story of Shohei Ohtani’s translator Ippei Mizuhara, who journeys from unemployed drifter to international icon only to find himself tangled in a gambling scandal that rocked the sports world.”

While the show might not find a mainstream platform due to the aforementioned MLB entanglements, the project is being developed at a time when gambling is at the forefront of conversation in sports media. Less than two months ago, an FBI probe implicated an active NBA player and head coach in an underground gambling scheme. More recently, news broke that an MLB relief pitcher was intentionally dirtying pitches during games to help accomplices win bets.

Alex Convery, the screenwriter behind Air and The Tiger Slam, will serve as showrunner for the currently untitled project. Justin Lin (Fast and Furious) will serve as director.

No timetable has been reported for the show’s release.