Wrestling is coming to Starz, but it isn’t another weekly promotion. The network is producing Heels, the drama series focusing around an indy wrestling promotion and the family that runs it. The show debuts on August 15 and during Comic-Con@Home, show lead Mary McCormack spoke about her inexperience with wrestling, comparing Heels to another family drama revolving around a sport, Friday Night Lights.
McCormack plays Willie on Heels, the business partner of Jack Spade (Stephen Amell) and management of the local wrestling promotion. “I was never a fan of wrestling,” McCormack said during the panel. “My little brother was, and he would get on the top bunk and dive on me and say, ‘I’m Jimmy Superfly Snuka!’–am I saying that right? That was my only experience with wrestling, really. When I read the script and met the world, I was so taken with it in the way I was taken with Friday Night Lights, similarly. It felt wrestling was a way into this family drama. And for me, that was really exciting.
“I remember when my husband was a big Friday Night Lights fan and would say, ‘You have to watch it. You have to watch it,'” continued McCormick. “And I was so annoyed because I don’t care about football–sorry James. I was like, ‘I’m not going to watch that.’ And he said, ‘Please just watch one, and if you don’t want to watch anymore, you can get out.’ And so I watched one and became a shut in. I stopped parenting and seeing people. I hope that’s what people feel like with this show because I certainly have no experience with the wrestling world, and I’m in. I’m in on all these characters and their relationships and their struggles and that’s just what good dramatic writing is like.”
On Heels, McCormark’s character is in charge of day-to-day operations at the promotion. At one time, she was a valet for Wild Bill (Chris Bauer), and left working with him before he shot to stardom. Bauer himself is a huge wrestling fan. “This shoe fit pretty tight, I have to say,” explained Bauer. “I was a wrestling fan. I am a wrestling fan. But in particular, the regions–the smaller sort of indy outfits. When [writer Michael Waldron] and I met, we talked about the show for about a minute and the rest of breakfast was about wrestlers, indy wrestling, and it really got me excited, I have to say because he knew what he was talking about.”
Heels also features Alexander Ludwig, Kelli Berglund, James Harrison, Alison Luff, Robby Ramos, and more. Additionally, former WWE wrestler CM Punk will appear on one episode. Heels comes to Starz this August.
