National Geographic and Disney+ announced The Right Stuff, based on the bestselling book by Tom Wolfe, will premiere on October 9, 2020. The season consists of eight episodes, with the first two episodes dropping on premiere day.
The premiere date announcement was accompanied by a full trailer introducing the Mercury 7 astronauts.
The cast includes Jake McDorman (“Lieutenant Commander Alan Shepard”), Patrick J. Adams (“Major John Glenn”), Colin O’Donoghue (“Captain Gordon Cooper”), Michael Trotter (“Gus Grissom”), Aaron Staton (“Wally Schirra”), and Micah Stock (“Deke Slayton”). James Lafferty (“Scott Carpenter”), Nora Zehetner (“Annie Glenn”), Shannon Lucio (“Louise Shepard”), Eloise Mumford (“Trudy Cooper”), Eric Ladin (“Chris Kraft”), and Patrick Fischler (“Bob Gilruth”) also star in the series based on true events.
Mark Lafferty (Castle Rock) is the showrunner and executive produces along with Appian Way’s Jennifer Davisson and Leonardo DiCaprio. Will Staples, Emmy winner Danny Strong, Howard Korder, and director Chris Long also executive produced.
The Plot, Courtesy of National Geographic and Disney+:
The Right Stuff is an inspirational look at the early days of the U.S. Space Program and the incredible story of America’s first astronauts, the Mercury Seven. At the height of the Cold War in 1959, the Soviet Union dominates the space race, and America fears it is a nation in decline.
Newly-formed NASA has the monumental task of sending a man into space, and its engineers estimate they need decades to accomplish the feat. They are given two years. Dubbed Project Mercury, the program recruits and trains just seven astronauts from a handful of the military’s best pilots. Within days of being presented to the world, the Mercury Seven become instant celebrities, forged into heroes before they achieve a single heroic act.
At a time when many wondered if America’s glory days were behind it, The Right Stuff is an aspirational story about how ordinary human beings can achieve the extraordinary. As much about who we are today as it is about historic achievements, the series evokes the wonder of this singular era, when the free world looked towards a new horizon of hope as we first stepped off the bounds of our only home to venture into the vast unknown.
