The Australian Football League is getting the “Drive to Survive” treatment, with Amazon MGM Studios joining forces with the Formula 1-focused hit’s Emmy-winning production company Box To Box on a new AFL documentary series for Prime Video.
Also a collaboration with GoodThing Productions, the not-yet-named series will chronicle the AFL’s 2025 Toyota Premiership season, giving viewers an immersive inside look at the competition and honing in on key characters in the game. Audiences will be able to stream the results in 2026, with Prime Video set to release the show globally in 240 countries and territories.
Which Australian Rules football players will be featured, or other figures in the sport — and from which clubs, too — hasn’t yet been revealed. Neither have any storylines that will sit at the heart of the series. At the time of the show’s announcement, the 2025 AFL season has already proven eventful more than two months out from this year’s premier being decided, including starting with Tropical Cyclone Alfred delaying games.
Executive produced by Paul Martin, James Gay-Rees, Hillary Olsen, Nick Batzias and Charlotte Wheaton, this is Prime Video’s 31st Australian Original since 2019, and also the streamer’s fourth AFL-centric local Amazon Original documentary in the same time.
2021’s “Making Their Mark” charted 2020’s COVID-impacted season, with then-West Coast Eagles player Nic Naitanui, Carlton star Eddie Betts, Greater Western Sydney footballer Stephen Coniglio and the Adelaide Crows’ Rory Sloane in the spotlight. 2022’s “Kick Like Tayla” focused on AFLW player Tayla Harris, while “Warriors on the Field” the same year featured Indigenous stars such as Sydney Swans premiership player Michael O’Loughlin and prolific Fremantle Dockers goalkicker Michael Walters.
“In the pantheon of international sports, AFL really stood out to us as rich terrain for storytelling potential,” said Box To Box co-founder Martin.
“The world of Aussie Rules has everything we look for in our shows — intensity, big personalities, massive stakes, and stories that hit hard on and off the field. We’re thrilled to bring audiences around the globe into the heart of such a tenaciously competitive league,” Martin continued.
“We know our customers are passionate about homegrown sports, and we’re excited to give audiences insider access to the moments and personalities that make the AFL so special,” added Alexandra Gilbert, Head of Content Prime Video Australia and New Zealand.
“By collaborating with storytelling experts Box To Box, we’re committed to bringing fans authentic, behind-the-scenes moments that they’ve never experienced before, while helping to share Australia’s beloved sport with viewers worldwide.”
Noted AFL Executive General Manager Customer and Commercial Bec Haagsma, “we love that new audiences will be connected to our stories and our game through this series, and our fans will enjoy finding even more reasons to love footy and its characters”.
“Aussie Rules football is intricately entwined with the Australian way of life and is full of wonderful characters, storylines and emotions that tie people together from all walks of life. This series is an important asset for the AFL as we aim to have footy in every household in the country, and introduce our game, and our stories, to international audiences.”
Surveying cycling, golf, soccer, American football, tennis and more, Box To Box’s other sports productions include “Tour de France: Unchained,” “Full Swing,” “Onside: Major League Soccer,” “SEC Football: Any Given Saturday” and “Break Point.”