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The mission to bring Madonna’s life and legacy to the big screen isn’t over until Madonna says it’s over.
Nearly two years after the queen of pop’s biographical feature film was reportedly scrapped, Madonna has now reemerged with a new cinematic undertaking that will adapt her career into a limited series, Deadline reported today. This time, the singer will be working with Netflix and filmmaker Shawn Levy to tell her story. Ahead, we break down everything we know about the project so far.
Madonna is working on a Netflix limited series about her life.
Deadline confirmed in May 2025 that Madonna has officially partnered with Netflix to turn the story behind her legendary career into a limited series. According to the outlet, the project is still in the “early development” stages, so there has been no news yet on the title, casting, or number of episodes. Madonna will be working with filmmaker Shawn Levy, who founded 21 Laps Entertainment, the movie and television studio responsible for making Stranger Things, Deadpool & Wolverine, and Night at the Museum.
The limited series is unrelated to Madonna’s scrapped biopic.
Per Deadline, the Netflix show about Madonna’s life apparently has nothing to do with the Universal Pictures movie about Madonna’s life, which was reportedly scrapped by the studio in January 2023 due to the superstar embarking on the worldwide Celebration Tour later that same year.
The canceled biopic would have had the singer sitting firmly in the driver’s seat; Madonna was on board to direct, write, and produce the film. (She also has previous directing credits from movies like the 2011 historical romance W.E. and the 2008 dramedy Filth and Wisdom.)
At the time, she opened up about helming the project in a statement shared to her website. “I want to convey the incredible journey that life has taken me on as an artist, a musician, a dancer—a human being, trying to make her way in this world,” her message read. “The focus of this film will always be music. Music has kept me going and art has kept me alive. There are so many untold and inspiring stories and who better to tell it than me. It’s essential to share the roller coaster ride of my life with my voice and vision.”
It’s possible that Julia Garner may star in the series.
After undergoing a grueling audition process that has since been dubbed as the “Madonna boot camp,” Julia Garner (Inventing Anna, Ozark) was cast to lead the material girl’s feature film biopic. Although the project ultimately never came to fruition, Madonna and Garner have sustained a friendly relationship in the years since—with Garner even making a surprise guest appearance at one of the singer’s Celebration Tour shows in December 2023. While casting for the Netflix series has yet to be announced, Deadline reports that Garner is “most likely [to] play Madonna,” pending the actor’s availability.
Should the timing not work out for Garner, Madonna can always dip back into her pool of fellow “Madonna boot camp” survivors, which allegedly included Florence Pugh, Alexa Demie, Odessa Young, and Emma Laird.
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