Stephen Amell will be trading in his Arrow duds for some wrestling trunks once more as Deadline has revealed that the actor is signed on to star in a new wrestling TV drama, Heels. The show has been picked up by Starz and will be based around an independent wrestling promotion out of Georgia. Amell will be starring as the Duffy Wrestling Association’s top baddie, Jack Slade who also runs the company behind the scenes. Mike O’Malley (of Nickelodeon’s GUTS and Yes, Dear fame) with be the showrunner. Plot summary below is courtesy of Deadline:
Written by Michael Waldron (Loki), with Mike O’Malley set as showrunner, Heels is about the men and women who chase their dreams in the world of small town pro wrestling. Set in a close-knit Georgia community, it follows a family-owned wrestling promotion as two brothers and rivals — one of them played by Amell — war over their late father’s legacy. In the ring, somebody must play the good guy and somebody must play their nemesis, the heel (Amell). But in the real world, those characters can be hard to live up to — or hard to leave behind.
In the ring, Amell’s Jack Spade is the charismatic villain, or heel, of the Duffy Wrestling Association (DWA). In the real world, he’s its hard-working owner, a husband and father trying to make ends meet while fighting to realize his impossible dreams. He has the mind of an artist in the body of a warrior, and a Steve Jobs-ian need for perfection — and for control. He says he’ll do whatever it takes to build the DWA into an empire. Will he go so far as to risk his marriage, or his relationship with his brother?
Heels was set up at Starz by Paramount Television in early 2017 and was quickly put on fast track for an eight-episode series pickup. Starz later became the lead studio, with Lionsgate TV eventually laking over as part of the recent integration of Starz and Lionsgate’s TV production operations.
Heels is produced by Lionsgate TV in association with Paramount TV. Along with Waldron and O’Malley, LBI Entertainment’s Julie Yorn, Chris Donnelly and Patrick Walmsley will also serve as executive producers.
