The Hollywood Reporter can share the details of Untold: Volume 4.
The best running sports-documentary series on streaming, originated by brothers Chapman and Maclain Way, the guys behind Wild Wild Country, returns at the end of next month with Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom (March 31). Three more titles (below) follow; while the Ways executive produce each, for the second season in a row, they yielded the directors’ chairs to collaborators.
Directed by their buddy Ryan Duffy, the Odom Untold takes viewers back to 2015, when the recently retired NBA star and the husband of Khloé Kardashian was found unresponsive at the Love Ranch, a brothel outside Las Vegas. The doc features interviews with Odom, Kardashian, and the former manager of the Love Ranch to peel back “the public narrative to expose the private struggles, hidden pressures, and pivotal decisions throughout Lamar’s life that led to that moment” — nearly his very final one.
Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom is executive produced by the Ways, Duffy, Ben Silverman, Howard Owens, Isabel San Vargas, Jeff Jenkins and Shondrella Avery. Jake Graham-Felsen and Carolyn Craddock are co-executive producers of the film, which like the entirety of season four, hails from Propagate and Stardust Frames Productions.
The following week, on April 7, Untold makes its first foray into the darkest sport of them all: chess. Untold: Chess Mates, directed by Thomas Tancred, focuses on rising online star Hans Niemann’s 2022 Sinquefield Cup victory over Magnus Carlsen, who is generally considered the greatest player of all time. The win did not come clear of controversy, and given Niemann’s cheating past, allegations of a repeat offense flew. The only way for Niemann to clear his name would be a 2024 rematch with Carlsen.
Untold: Chess Mates is executive produced by most of the usual suspects — the Way boys, Duffy, Slverman, Owens and San Vargas — as well as Jimmy Butler, the NBA player.
Lamar Odom Reflects on His Life in Netflix Documentary Series Untold
Courtesy of Netflix
And then there are the Portland Jail Blazers. Untold: Jail Blazers, directed by Sascha Gardener, premieres April 14.
“The early 2000s Portland Trail Blazers were a team unlike any other, a roster stacked with All-Stars and undeniable talent, poised to make their mark on the NBA,” the logline reads. “But while their on court performances dazzled fans, their off court lives became the subject of scandal, controversy, and relentless media attention.”
Rasheed Wallace, the team’s leader, sits for Gardener — as do Damon Stoudamire, Bonzi Wells and others. The Blazers were “a team caught between brilliance and notoriety,” the synopsis astutely sums up, and the film “examines how culture, race, and media shaped one of the most infamous chapters in NBA history.”
Again the core group executive produces, but sub in Tim Livingston this time in the final, rotating spot. Co-executive producers are Jake Graham-Felsen and Carolyn Craddock, same as for the Odom installment.
Last but not least dangerous, welcome to the world of dressage. Grace McNally directs the April 21 season finale, The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill, follows a retired Olympic equestrian in New Jersey who takes on a new dressage student. “Over time, tensions mount between the two, leading to 911 calls, cryptic social media posts, and accusations of spying,” the logline reads.
