In a time when the world is navigating a world without sports, ESPN is trying to curb cravings with the release of Michael Jordan documentary The Last Dance. The sports documentary follows the career of one of the NBA’s greatest players, Michael Jordan, and the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls’ fight for their sixth National Championship. That season would also be Jordan’s last in Chicago. The 10-part documentary was originally set to air on ESPN in June, but The Last Dance‘s release date was moved up due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Jordan started to gain a following while playing basketball as a member of the North Carolina Tar Heels. He played for three seasons before entering the NBA draft in 1984, when he was picked third overall by the Chicago Bulls. Jordan quickly emerged as one of the best in the game and helped increase interest in the sport throughout Chicago and the entire world. Jordan and the Bulls won their first championship in 1991 and they reclaimed the title in 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, and 1998. In those years, Jordan also retired for a year and a half to play professional baseball and starred in the 1996 comedy, Space Jam. Jordan retired from the NBA following the 1997-98 season but returned to the NBA in 2001 to play two seasons as a member of the Washington Wizards.
Plans for a Michael Jordan documentary first started in 2016 after the former star agreed to the proposal from producer Mike Tollin. The documentary relied on Jordan’s own personal accounts of his career and his final season on the Bulls. The team also had over 500 hours of all-access footage to use, a lot of which was previously unseen. The series was announced to the public in May 2018 with the first trailer released later that December. A second trailer was released a year later which confirmed a June 2020 release date. Thankfully, ESPN and NBA Entertainment decided to expedite the release, airing the first two episodes of the docuseries on Sunday, April 19. Fans will be given two new episodes each week and global viewers will also have the chance to enjoy The Last Dance.
The Release Date Schedule For The Last Dance
Along with the premiere date of The Last Dance, ESPN announced the entire release date schedule for its highly-anticipated documentary series. The new episodes begin at 9/8c each Sunday night on ESPN with a kid-friendly version airing at the same time on ESPN2. Here’s a breakdown of the schedule:
- Sunday, April 19, 2020 – Episodes 1 & 2
- Sunday, April 26, 2020 – Episodes 3 & 4
- Sunday, May 3, 2020 – Episodes 5 & 6
- Sunday, May 10, 2020 – Episodes 7 & 8
- Sunday, May 17, 2020 – Episodes 9 & 10
For viewers outside of the U.S., Netflix partnered with NBA Entertainment and ESPN Films in the production of The Last Dance. Each episode of the documentary will be released the day after the ESPN airing on the streaming service for various regions across the globe. By May 18, all 10 episodes of the documentary should be available for viewers around the world.
