The noticeable absence of sports isn't forcing ESPN to speed up production on its highly anticipated The Last Dance documentary.
The executive vice president of programming acquisitions and scheduling for ESPN, Burke Magnus, told Front Row that the docu-series' production is not complete. Therefore, it's unlikely that The Last Dance will get an early release date.
"Overall, any original content project that we can conceivably move up, we are obviously considering that, including films," Magnus said. "I know some have asked about The Last Dance and the reality is that the production of that film has not yet been completed, so we are limited there at the moment. Obviously, you can’t air it until it’s done."
Fans have been itching to see The Last Dance since it first announced. Yet, anticipation heightened when the NBA decided to suspend the season due to the coronavirus. The void left by this decision led fans to urge ESPN to drop the docu-series ahead of schedule.
It seemed like this groundswell was starting to sway the network. Earlier this month, fans started to notice that there were more commercials for the documentary being aired on ESPN than usual. Also, these ads read "Coming Soon" at the end of them instead of saying the original June 2020 air date. While this had fans on the edge of their seats, it doesn't seem like the production process can be sped up to appease the audience.
There is likely a lot of producing and editing that needs to happen to make The Last Dance everything it's supposed to be. The 10-part docu-series follows the last days of the Chicago Bulls dynasty. It features interviews from Bulls legends,—including Michael Jordan—former President, Barack Obama, the late Kobe Bryant, and more. The June 2020 air date was supposed to coincide with the NBA Finals. But now that the season has been delayed, the docu-series will probably standalone as the NBA's main attraction.
