It was back in 2022 that Peacock, the NBCUniversal streaming service, dropped the “Field of Dreams” TV project. One of the show’s potential stars is hoping that even after all this time the show eventually will be picked back up.
Nick Offerman, an Emmy-winning actor and New York Times best-selling author, said he would like to see the project come to fruition.
“Hopefully that’ll still have a life someday,” Offerman said in a phone interview with The Moines Register on Oct. 8.
Offerman, best known for his role as Ron Swanson in “Parks and Recreation,” was lined up for a role in the TV show that would have been a follow-up to the 1989 movie filmed in Iowa.
Nick Offerman is coming to Des Moines in October 2025 to celebrate his new book, “Little Woodchucks.”
The famous flick is about an Iowa farmer, played by Kevin Costner, who plows over his corn to build a baseball field for “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and other members of the banished 1919 Chicago White Sox.
The movie became a major hit and the Dyersville diamond where it was filmed became a popular tourist attraction. Peacock hoped to cash in on its growing popularity after Major League Baseball brought the White Sox and New York Yankees to the movie site for a memorable game in 2021.
Mike Schur and Morgan Sackett, who both worked with Offerman on “Parks and Recreation,” were getting the show started. Offerman said that Schur had written five or six episodes. NBCUniversal, the production company for the show, paid to have a baseball field built on a farm in Polk City.
But about a month before shooting was to start, Peacock backed out. Offerman, who will be at the Franklin Event Center in Des Moines on Oct. 14 to promote his new book “Little Woodchucks,” had high hopes for the show.
More: ‘Field of Dreams’ TV show didn’t materialize. Owners of the diamond hope it still does.
“It was so funny,” Offerman said. “It was so moving. But the powers that be at Peacock, for whatever reason, they don’t make their decision based on our artistic merit. They plug things into an algorithm and apparently we came up short on that one.”
Offerman said the plan was to make the show a “modern-day” story and address several things he’s always had problems with in the movie. Offerman said it bothered him how Costner never wore a belt as an Iowa farmer and thought it was funny how the actor walked into a store and threw a bag of corn seed on the counter “like he’s buying a bag of gumballs.”
“It’s like the greatest baseball movie,” Offerman said. “At the same time, it’s flawed.”
Offerman would like to see the show get another shot. But he understands it could be a challenge. Meanwhile, the diamond in Polk City remains intact and ready for lights, camera, action.
“We’re always hopeful,” he said. “You learn, generally not to be optimistic in show biz. It’s full of disappointment. That’s why they call it show business and not show charity or show funhouse.”
Tommy Birch, the Register’s sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He’s the 2018, 2020 and 2023 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at [email protected] or 515-284-8468.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Nick Offerman was excited to appear in ‘Field of Dreams’ TV show
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’
