ESPN analyst Chiney Ogwumike definitely knows basketball, and that’s why she’s the perfect person to bring a WNBA series to the small screen.
If you’ve watched a women’s college basketball game in recent years, you’ve seen Ogwumike, 32, on ESPN. Not only is she the first Black woman and the first former WNBA player to host a radio program for the network, but she’s also a 2-time WNBA champion.
This time in women’s sports is “historic,” Ogwumike explained while speaking exclusively to Us Weekly on Monday, March 17, saying, “I still can’t believe it in some ways.” (Ogwumike is also the sister of Nneka Ogwumike of the Seattle Storm, and said her sister would destroy her in a 1- on-1 game: “I stay in my lane,” Ogwumike told Us. “I’m the number 2 child”).
The W tells a story that Ogwumike knows well, in part because she’s already lived it. The series is based loosely on her own journey after Ogwumike made the surprising decision to hire then-24-year-old Allison Galer as her agent after being named the WNBA’s No. 1 overall draft pick in 2014. The half-hour series follows the ups and downs experienced by a league rookie.
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Having the series based on her life doesn’t mean she knows exactly what to expect. “I’ve read some of the work already,” Ogwumike told Us. “It was still so interesting and funny and awesome to me.”
Ogwumike explained she and Galer went in to pitch an entirely different story to the network, but during the meeting, the pair were asked to pitch something about themselves instead. They’ve been working on the project for four years, Ogwumike added, saying they “were seeing [other] projects come and go” — but then something major happened in women’s basketball. Or, rather, someone.
Caitlin Clark was selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, a position Ogwumike had held ten years earlier. All of a sudden, women’s basketball was the hot topic. Clark in particular has been credited with revitalizing the WNBA.
Being drafted first is “the moment we played hard for,” Ogwumike explained to Us, adding, “It’s the moment that we had blood, sweat, and tears for. And I think that resilience that we all have in trying to prove ourselves and change the game blossomed into us authentically being number one at something else, too.”
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That drive is what helped her have the determination to create The W and to continue to prove herself beyond the hardwood.
“Everyone is so unique,” she said. “And I think we stand so strong in our uniqueness… [after leaving the league] I found a way to write a new chapter, and that became broadcast television. And I think that mindset is embedded in a lot of the players that come in, because it’s like we have no choice but to be successful, because that’s what we know the game deserves.”
The W, which is in development at Peacock, is also the first from Ogwumike and Galer’s production company, Victorious. Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, creators of the Netflix series Glow, will serve as showrunners for The W and will co-write the pilot with Tori Collins. Executive producers for the series include Helen Estabrook, Lajoie St. George, and Jodi Hildebrand of Condé Nast’s Glamour Studios.
