Serena Williams to executive produce Netflix tennis drama

Serena Williams is set to executive produce Carrie Soto is Back, a series adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s bestselling tennis-themed novel.

Netflix has taken the project on for development, Deadline reports.

The story follows tennis legend Carrie Soto, whose determination to win at all costs has not made her popular. But by the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. Six years after her retirement, her world record is under threat and at 37, Soto takes the decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record.

While Carrie Soto is not based on Williams, the character evokes the 23-time Grand Slam winner, and Reid has spoken of the Williams sisters’ influence on the book.

“My incredible respect for the Williams sisters is part of what makes me interested in tennis,” she said in an interview at the time of the book’s 2022 release.

“I wouldn’t write a book about tennis without the influence of just the absolute glory that has been their journey, but also specifically Serena’s quest to get as many Grand Slam titles as she has managed to do.”

Williams also executive produced the 2024 docuseries In the Arena: Serena Wiliams, and, alongside her sister Venus, King Richard, the 2021 movie about the sisters’ early years being coached by their dad.