Here’s the Cast of the Upcoming ‘Senna’ Miniseries

A Netflix miniseries about Ayrton Senna is in the works and is currently in production in Brazil, set to give viewers a look at the life and F1 career of one of South America's most celebrated racing superstars.

Titled simply Senna, with Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone taking the lead role, the series is billed as Netflix's most ambitious project set in that part of the world, with filming in Uruguay and Argentina having already been completed.

Directed by Vicente Amorim, who has also taken on the task of showrunner, with Julia Rezende also sharing directing work, the six-episode miniseries will give audiences a look at the F1 star's origins and dramatic rise to fame.

Netflix is seemingly sparing no expense, with the production taking place in the actual locations of the historical events—not always guaranteed in such projects—and some of the cast has just arrived in São Paulo and Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, for filming. Later on, the production will shift to the UK after filming wraps up in Brazil.

"The starting point will be the beginning of the three-time Formula 1 champion's racing career when he moved to England to compete in Formula Ford, all the way to the tragic accident in Imola, Italy, during the San Marino Grand Prix," Netflix said.

The extended cast has been revealed just days ago, with the production company announcing that the series will feature Alice Wegmann, Camila Márdila, Christian Malheiros, Gabriel Louchard, Hugo Bonemer, Julia Foti, Marco Ricca, Pâmela Tomé, and Susana Ribeiro. The miniseries will also rely on the talents of Johannes Heinrichs, Matt Mella, Kaya Scodelario, Arnaud Viard, Joe Hurst, Patrick Kennedy, Keisuke Hoashi, Leon Ockenden, Richard Clothier, Tom Mannion, and Steven Mackintosh.

When it comes to the miniseries' star, the 30-year-old Leone has acted in a string of Brazilian shows and films over the past decade, but by the time the miniseries is released he should be recognizable to some North American audiences for his portrayal of racer Alfonso de Portago in Ferrari (2023), starring Adam Driver.

That's right: The series lead has just played another F1 racer in a big budget film, slated to be released December 25.

If you have a feeling that you've heard about a film titled Senna somewhere else, that's because it is also the title of a 2010 documentary directed by Asif Kapadia. The BBC also did its own documentary, titled Ayrton Senna, back in 1995—an effort that included input from a number of F1 stars of the era—and was produced immediately in the wake of Senna's death.

Amorim's look at Senna the historical figure, on the other hand, is expected to be a fictionalized but chronologically honest retelling of Senna's F1 life and career, perhaps with some understandable artistic license required to fill in some of the edges.

"Over the course of six episodes, Senna will, for the first time, depict the journey of overcoming obstacles, ups and downs, joys, and sorrows of Ayrton, exploring his personality and personal relationships," Netflix said.

Senna's historical stature in the sport of F1, especially for a time period that overlapped with the careers of a number of other memorable F1 greats, at one of the peaks of the sport's popularity, is undeniable. But it's also understandable why the F1 fandom is getting this miniseries only now, in the age of streaming shows with seemingly unlimited budgets.

Such a docudrama would have been extremely difficult to produce even 10 years ago, without the money for such a lavish and technically demanding production. The special effects of a decade ago, especially in the realm of digital crowd generation, digital matte paintings, and CGI cars, were also barely ready for prime time, and would have still required immense investments. And dressing up large environments to resemble their own selves 30 or 40 years ago isn't an easy task either.

We're now in an era when this can be done on a miniseries level, with budgets and technologies that didn't exist on an easily digestible level for such a project just a few short years ago.

With filming taking place in South America and elsewhere, it's clear this effort will focus heavily on the historical accuracy of its subject matter rather than special effects, so we won't see unconvincing stand-ins for locations in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The bar is clearly being set very high.

The miniseries is scheduled to be released in 2024.