Two-time NBA champ LeBron James is getting his feet wet in the television game with a new sitcom for Starz titled Survivor’s Remorse.
The Miami Heat forward will executive produce the half-hour series centered on two men (one an NBA star, the other one not) who make it out of North Philadelphia’s inner city to a more extravagant life of fame and fortune. Along the way, they fight with the guilt of their struggling peers left behind.
James, who entered the league at age 18, said in a recent phone interview with ESPN:
“I think the main thing for me is, first of all, making it out of a place where you’re not supposed to. You’re supposed to be a statistic and end up like the rest of the people in the inner city — [and] being one of the few to make it out and everyone looking at you to be the savior. [...] When you make it out, everyone expects — they automatically think that they made it out and it’s very tough for a young, African-American 18-year-old kid to now hold the responsibility of a whole city, of a whole community. I can relate to that as well.”
James is working on the project with business partner and longtime friend Maverick Carter, as well as The Cosby Show producer Tom Werner. Mike O’Malley has also signed on to executive produce.
In the same interview, Carter stressed that the series was not a autobiographical story about his or James’ life– just fictional characters in a fictional world.
There is no word on when production will being.
