Real Steel movie is getting a Disney Plus series from director Shawn Levy

Hugh Jackman and Evangeline Lilly in Real Steel
(Image credit: DreamWorks)

Real Steel, the sci-fi boxing movie starring Hugh Jackman, is getting a Disney Plus series.

The original movie is set in an alternate version of 2020 where human boxers have been replaced by robots. An ex-boxer (Jackman) and his young son (Dakota Goyo) reunite after years apart and discover an obsolete but intact sparring robot in a junkyard, which turns out to be more than it seems. 

Real Steel was released in 2011 and directed by Shawn Levy, who is returning to executive produce the upcoming series. Alongside Jackman, it starred Evangeline Lilly as the owner of a boxing gym and Anthony Mackie, and the movie was a box office hit, earning over $300 million on release. It's based on the short story Steel by Richard Matheson, which was published in 1956 and was also adapted into a Twilight Zone episode in 1963.

After the movie was recently added to Netflix, it found a new audience, and Levy said he'd been talking to Jackman about a sequel. No casting information has been announced yet, so it's unclear whether Jackman and co. will return.

Levy's next project is The Adam Project, a sci-fi movie for Netflix starring Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, and Zoe Saldana. He recently directed Free Guy, also starring Reynolds, and he's directed multiple episodes of the upcoming Stranger Things season 4.

While we wait for the Real Steel series to arrive on the streamer, check out our list of the best shows on Disney Plus that you can watch right now.

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Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at 12DOVE, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.