The first season of “Winning Time” attracted huge interest and sparked plenty of controversy at the same time with its interpretation of the beginning of the Los Angeles Lakers “Showtime” dynasty.
Although the general reception of the HBO show appeared to be positive — with “Winning Time’ scooping an Emmy Awards nomination for Outstanding Cinematography — many Showtime legends felt mischaracterized by their portrayals in the series.
Former Lakers player and executive Jerry West even demanded a retraction and threatened to take the network and its producers to the Supreme Court if necessary.
Still, HBO has announced that “Winning Time” has been renewed for another season. Jeff Pearlman, who wrote “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s” — the book that inspired the series — has tweeted the show has started casting for new characters set to appear in Season 2, including Kurt Rambis, Mitch Kupchak, Byron Scott, James Worthy and Robert Parish:
The show is casting. I repeat: The show is casting. #winningtime pic.twitter.com/7jSPJPnZdh
— Jeff Pearlman (@jeffpearlman) August 1, 2022
While Parish joined the Boston Celtics in 1980 — after the Lakers won the NBA championship, which is when Season 1 ended — Rambis, Kupchak, Scott and Worthy moved to L.A. between 1981-1983. That suggests “Winning Time” will come up with a plot line spanning over several years in the second season after the show focused solely on the 1979-80 campaign in its debut.
Also, the casting announcement confirms Pearlman’s insight into Season 2 he shared with Lakers Nation earlier this year.
“I know it definitely involves sort of the transition to Paul Westhead becoming the coach and kind of Westhead and then Riley dynamic, and Riley kind of moving into power over Westhead, but I don’t… I mean, they’re writing it as we speak, literally writing as we speak,” Pearlman said.
Hulu releases second trailer for new Lakers docuseries ‘Legacy’
Another show about the Lakers will soon celebrate its premiere with Hulu announcing it will release “Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers” on Aug. 15.
The streaming service dropped the second trailer for the 10-part docuseries on Monday, showing LeBron James talking about the pressure that comes with representing the Purple and Gold before moving through the entire timeline of Lakers history since Dr. Jerry Buss’ takeover.
Many members of the Lakers family assisted in the production of “Legacy” as — unlike “Winning Time” — the show will feature interviews with the likes of Jeanie Buss, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, and others.
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