New James Bond Competition TV Series Announced For Prime Video

Amazon's $8.45 billion deal to acquire James Bond studio MGM has been completed, and now it's come to light that the retail and entertainment giant is making a 007 TV show. It's not a drama based on the superspy, but instead a competition TV series inspired by the character and his journey.

According to Variety, the show, 007's Road to a Million, is a "Bond-style spin on a race around the world." The eight-episode series is being produced by 72 Films, with series producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson attached alongside MGM Television.

The report that this new TV series pre-dates Amazon's deal to buy MGM and has been in the works for four years already. It's separate from any potential new 007 content that might come out of Amazon's takeover of MGM, according to the report.

The show itself will feature contestants taking part in a "global adventure" to earn a prize of £1 million ($1.3 million) in cash. Participants will visit Bond locations from across the film series and take part in physical feats and answer trivia questions about the 007 series to advance. Filming is set to begin this year, the report said, and the show will air in 240 countries and territories worldwide on Prime Video.

The latest James Bond movie was No Time To Die, which was the fifth and final entry in the series featuring Daniel Craig in the title role. The search for a new person to play James Bond is now underway and Broccoli has said the next person to play the role with likely be a British man of any ethnicity or race.

In buying MGM, Amazon gains access to a library of more than 4,000 films and 17,000 TV episodes. Outside of James Bond, MGM holds the video game movie rights for Tomb Raider. Some of MGM's other film franchises include Robocop, Rocky, Silence of the Lambs, The Pink Panther, Thelma & Louise, Legally Blonde, and Poltergeist. In terms of TV properties, MGM's catalog includes The Handmaid's Tale, Fargo, and Vikings.

MGM is Amazon's second-largest buyout ever, following its $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods in 2017.

In other Prime news, Amazon is developing a Fallout TV series with the creators of Westworld, as well as series based on Life is Strange and Disco Elysium. Amazon makes video games, too, with its latest big hits being the MMOs New World and Lost Ark.