The Full-Length Trailer for ‘Fightland’ Goes Full Warfare

Fightland is a big leap of faith for Starz as a network. One of the many small-time premium cable channels that attempted to play with the big boys by launching a stand-alone streaming service, the fact that it hasn’t been bought out by a larger player yet is a testament to its savvy programming choices. It was partly luck – Outlander was a massive hit right when Starz needed it, and though it milked the show with half-seasons for years, the series miraculously stuck the landing when it finally concluded in May 2026.

While Outlander – and other period dramas aimed towards white women like The White Queen and The Spanish Princess – kept Starz in the public eye, the network quietly made a name for itself among Black audiences with its contemporary American Power Book series, produced by Curtis Jackson (better known as 50 Cent). At this point, the network’s originals split close to 50/50, with series like The Couple Next Door aimed at the Outlander crowd and P-Valley for the Power Book subscribers.

Up until now, these audiences have mostly stayed as segregated as southern high school in the 1950s. However, as Starz continues to fight to stay independent, its producers have realized they need a series that will appeal to both. Enter Fightland, a contemporary series set in the world of Black British Boxing, offering Anglophile viewers a different view of the other side of the pond while giving its Black viewership a look at life for the diaspora there.

Here’s the series’ synopsis:

On the night that British-born boxer Duke Kilroy becomes world heavyweight champion, a vicious assault leaves his brother, Calvin, dead. Duke is devastated, and his reaction in the aftermath costs him eight years in a U.S. prison. Upon his release, and after having made a sinister discovery, Duke returns home seeking vengeance against the man he believes set him up – the criminal kingpin and former promoter, Kingsley Marshall. But Kingsley has vanished, leaving his children and wife, Joy, who happens to be the love of Duke’s life, to pick up the pieces.

Working with a cartel desperate to control London’s drug market, Duke begins a high-risk game of infiltrating Kingsley’s empire to destroy it from within and smoke out his enemy. But amidst a volatile criminal landscape, and competing influences threatening to pull him off course, Duke will need to channel everything that made him a champion fighter into his bloody pursuit to win the ultimate victory – revenge for his brother.

Howard Charles (Whitstable Pearl) leads the cast as Duke Kilroy, co-starring alongside Nicholas Pinnock (Hedda) as Kingsley Marshall, Deborah Ayorinde (Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue) as Joy Marshall, Charles Babalola (The Outlaws) as Zeek Marshall, and Anita-Joy Uwajeh (Vampire Academy) as Cece Marshall.

The supporting cast includes Tahirah Sharif (The Tower), Tyler Conti (The Gentleman), and Richard Pepple (Bridgerton). 

The series was created for Starz by Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan & Marlon Smith (Save Me), who wrote the eight-episode series along with showrunners Damione Macedon & Raphael Jackson Jr. (Genius: MLK/X). Otto Bathurst (Peaky Blinders) helms the first two episodes, with directors Sebastian Thiel (Dreaming Whilst Black) and Tessa Hoffe (Gangs of London) splitting the remaining episodes.

Fajemisin-Duncan, Smith, Macedon, Jackson Jr., and Bathurst all executive produce, alongside Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson for G-Unit Film & Television and Francis Hopkinson & Kate Leadbetter for Expanded Media.

Fightland will premiere on Starz on Friday, July 31, 2026, and will air and stream weekly on Fridays through the end of September.

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