'The forgotten voice of the original.' A League of Their Own tells the stories the movie couldn't.

The A League of Their Own story has been told before, but not like this.

Prime Video's new eight-part series is now streaming, reimagining the tale of 1992's Tom Hanks, Geena Davis and Madonna film in the best way. 

Both the film and the series tell a fictionalised account of the real-life women's baseball team the Rockford Peaches. Set in 1943, the men are at war and those at home are missing their baseball. Enter: the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which allowed (white) women to compete professionally for the first time.

While the movie focuses solely on the Peaches, the series broadens out the world they live in. Because there have always been non-white, Queer women in baseball. It's just that until now, their stories hadn't been told.

Watch: A League of Their Own trailer. Post continues below video.

In the first scene, we meet Carson, played by co-creator Abbi Jacobson (Broad City), who has hints of Geena Davis' Dottie. D'arcy Carden (The Good Place) plays Greta, who will remind movie fans of Madonna's Mae.

But there are also characters who are nothing like those included in the original: namely, the series tells the story of Max Chapman, a Black player frustrated at being unable to play in the segregated league, in parallel to the Rockford Peaches first season in the league.

Max is played by Chanté Adams, who spoke with Mamamia ahead of the series launch. 

"We're all still shaking in our boots about Friday," Adams laughs, referencing the day the series hit streaming.

She's aware of the love for this story in its original form.

"But I think the excitement about it kind of outweighs the pressure... We're not touching the movie, we think that it is perfect exactly how it is, it doesn't need to be remade," she says. "What we are doing is just getting the chance to dive a whole lot deeper into the actual stories of the time period."

Image: Prime Video.

This includes stories about Queer women, Black women and Queer, Black women. It was that 'expanding of the universe' that got Adams involved in the first place. 

"Three years ago, I received an email to audition for the, what I thought was going to be a remake or the new series," she explains. "And I was kind of confused, because I mean, we all know and love the movie - and I don't really remember seeing women that looked like me. Other than that one really iconic scene that happens with the black woman, but that only lasted like 10 seconds."

Famously, there is a brief moment in the 1992 movie where a Black woman throws a ball back to one of the players, but that is really the only acknowledgement that people of colour existed within the world of this story.

"And so then I read the script and saw that this was not a remake of the movie at all. But, we like to call it a reimagining, but it's really just expanding of the universe of A League of Their Own, and just telling more stories and bringing in more characters surrounding the time period in a more authentic fashion," Adams says.

She describes her character Maxine as 'the forgotten voice of the original'. The character is a super talented baseball player, who has to fight against segregation to find a team to play for. Her creation was inspired by three real women; Tony Stone, Mamie Johnson and Connie Morgan, who played in the Negro Leagues alongside men.

Image: Prime Video.

This is also an explicitly Queer story. Again, Queer women were always involved in the sport, but could not live authentically or have their identities affirmed in entertainment, until now.

Earlier this year, while promoting the TV series, former All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player Maybelle Blair came out as a lesbian for the first time, aged 95.

"It serves as an affirmation that we are a part of something that's bigger than just us as actors, like, 'Yes, this is a really cool job to have and a really great IP to take on'," Adams reflects.

"But at the end of the day, with the stories that we are telling, we're creating a safe space for individuals that prior to this did not feel safe... because we have this show, because [Blair] has had this experience of being on this ride with us for the past couple of years of being celebrated for all of who she is, and these characters who are Queer and beautiful being celebrated as well, she felt safe enough to be able to tell the world her truth."

Adams says everyone involved considers the show so much more than just entertainment.

"We're doing this show to teach and inspire. And hopefully let everybody know that it's never too late to be your most authentic self."

Chanté Adams, Maybelle Blair and Billie Harris at the Los Angeles premiere of A League Of Their Own. Image: Getty.

Her character Max's world is the richest in the series. We see Max's life outside of baseball, as well as her interactions alongside, and in contrast to, the Peaches. 

"Our show is not about the Peaches, or the All-American Girls [Professional Baseball] League," Adams says. "Our show is about a generation of women who played baseball, and Black women were included in that generation, they just weren't included in the movie. 

"And so now, we're able to expand on that and include Max, who's a very complicated and complex character, and use her as a representation for those women as well, of course, but also, as a representation of Black women in general, because Max is facing a lot of the issues that a lot of Black women, or Black Queer women specifically, were facing at that time."

But she's not carrying the entire weight of the story on her shoulders, either. We meet Max's family, and her relationship with best friend Clance (Gbemisola Ikumelo) provides some of the show's greatest moments.  

Adams says the often joyous interactions between Max and Clance were made even better by the fact that she and Ikumelo had an "instant connection". 

Image: Prime Video.

They bonded while filming the pilot episode in February 2020. Soon after, production paused due to the pandemic, and they weren't able to see each other again until filming resumed more than a year later.

"We were just so happy to finally reunite when it was time to shoot the rest of the season. It's like, you know, I think that Max and Clancy's relationship is also my favourite of the show. I think it just speaks to the talent that Bemi is, which is an amazing one. I feel so honoured to be able to share the screen with her to work with her as much as I do. And yeah, it's just a reflection I feel like of our real relationship."

A League of Their Own has been marketed alongside the hashtag #FindYourOwnTeam, a message that Adams hopes everyone takes away from the series.

"What we're stressing is like, you know, the importance of finding those people that are going to love and support you unconditionally... discovering that chosen family," she says.

All eight episodes of A League of Their Own are streaming on Prime Video now.

Feature image: Prime Video.