Every Muhammad Ali story runs into the same problem: how do you play a man the whole world already knows by heart? The voice, the poetry, the tilt of the head before a punchline: Ali performed himself so completely that any imitation risks becoming a costume. Prime Video’s The Greatest, premiering November 4, takes on that challenge as the first authorized scripted series about the Champ. Created by Ben Watkins and executive produced by Ali’s widow, Lonnie Ali, alongside Michael B. Jordan, the eight-episode first season follows a young Cassius Clay from his 1960 Olympic gold medal in Rome through going pro, his conversion to Islam, his bond with Malcolm X and his 1964 upset of Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship of the world. Jaalen Best stars as Ali, with Omari Hardwick as his father, Cassius “Cash” Clay Sr.; Dana Gourrier as his mother, Odessa “Bird” Clay; Kai Parham as his brother, Rudy Clay; Amin Joseph as Sonny Liston; Giovanni Ribisi as trainer Angelo Dundee; and Michael Ealy as Malcolm X.
At the center is Best, who spent two years studying archival interviews until he could mute them and mouth along at Ali’s exact pace. Then he flew to Louisville to meet Lonnie Ali, whose blessing the production needed before it would cast him. Ten minutes later, Watkins had a text: “Ben, he is the one, in more ways than you know.”
Watkins tells Blex Media that Season 1 is only round one. He’s planning three seasons, with a second covering Ali’s refusal of the draft and his ban from boxing, and a final chapter built around the Rumble in the Jungle. Lonnie Ali shares why the world needs Muhammad’s story right now, and what his daughter Hana said after watching Best on screen.