The team behind The Greatest is beginning to reveal how it plans to pack a punch with the show, the first authorized scripted series about the life of Muhammad Ali.

“It’s a show that’s designed to show you all the stuff that wasn’t in documentaries and isn’t available in terms of watching old fights and old interviews,” said Ben Watkins, executive producer and showrunner on the Prime Video project.

The series was greenlit back in 2024 and production started in Toronto earlier this year. It will start streaming later in 2026. Watkins said: “We’ve got Season 1 in the can, and it is slated to drop on Prime Video in the fourth quarter.”

The first Season will span the early years of Ali’s boxing career. “We filmed Season 1, which starts in 1960 when he wins the gold medal and ends in 1964 when he wins the heavyweight title for the first time. In between, there is a coming-of-age story, and a very intimate coming of age story, that really shows a different side of Ali, who was then Cassius Clay.”

Ali’s widow, Lonnie Ali, is also an executive producer alongside Michael B. Jordan through his Outlier Society banner, which has an overall deal with Amazon MGM Studios.

Watkins is currently in production on Season 3 of another Prime Video project, Cross, starring Aldis Hodge. He is showrunner and EP on The Greatest via his Blue Monday Productions banner. He is at the ongoing Monte-Carlo TV Festival and spoke about both shows on a panel during the event’s Business Forum.

Jaalen Best is portraying Ali in the show. Omari Hardwick and Dana Gourrier star as Cassius “Cash” Clay Sr. and his wife Odessa “Bird” Clay, respectively, parents of Muhammad Ali and Rudy Clay.

Kai Parham plays Ali’s brother and fellow boxer Rudy. Amin Joseph will play Sonny Liston, Ali’s rival and the heavyweight champion. In a recurring role, Michael Ealy plays Malcolm X.