Madonna Teams with 'Deadpool' Director for New Biopic Series
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Pop icon Madonna is getting her own Netflix limited series. According to a new report from Deadline, the singer is partnering with "Deadpool & Wolverine" and "Free Guy" director Shawn Levy to tell the story of her life and career. The project is in the early stages of development.
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The Queen of Pop has been looking to put the grand story of her life on the screen for a while now. Madonna first announced she was working on a biopic about her life in 2020, and at the time she was set to direct the feature herself. Julia Garner of "Ozark" fame was cast in the lead role, and screenwriters such as Diablo Cody ("Juno") and Cressida Wilson ("Secretary") worked on the script.
US singer songwriter Madonna arrives for the 2025 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 5, 2025, in New York.
US singer songwriter Madonna arrives for the 2025 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 5, 2025, in New York.
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
Deadline says that Garner is the most likely choice to play Madonna in the Netflix series, but that the casting wouldbe subject to the "Fantastic Four: First Steps" star's availability because no deals have been made.
Back in September 2020, Madonna talked to Entertainment Weekly about some of the parts of her life she wanted her fans to see brought to the screen. They included her meeting with Andy Warhol, the controversy over her 1989 music video "Like A Prayer", and the making of the 1996 musical historical drama "Evita".
In 2023, Variety broke the news that Universal Studios had dropped the Madonna biopic, just as the singer was embarking on a world tour. The report went on to imply that it was Madonna's decision to go on the tour, rather than continue to develop the biopic, that prompted Universal to drop the project.
Deadline notes that last November Madonna hinted in an Instagram post that she might be abandoning the idea of a biopic feature in favor of a limited TV series.
It is tempting to speculate "Like A Prayer" may have indirectly had something to do with the partnership between Madonna and Levy. The song featured prominently in Shawn Levy's Marvel film "Deadpool & Wolverine" and Ryan Reynolds previously mentioned meeting personally with Madonna to secure permission to use the song in the feature. It plays during a particularly bloody scene in which the titular duo battle a small army of Deadpool variants.
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