‘Peanut Butter Falcon’ Star Zack Gottsagen to Co-Star in Felicity Huffman’s New Baseball Drama

Monday morning, news surfaced that Felicity Huffman will return to TV more than one year after serving a prison sentence for her role in a college admissions scandal. She is headlining an as-yet-untitled story about a minor league baseball team, and she is partnering with the star of the wrestling-centric film, The Peanut Butter Falcon. Zack Gottsagen will join Huffman and will play her on-screen son.

According to Deadline, Gottsagen plays a “baseball devotee with Down syndrome.” No other information is currently available about his role in the series. The actor, who was born with Down syndrome, previously showed off a wrestling love when he partnered with Shia LaBeouf. He starred as Zak, a young man with no family who lives in a rural North Carolina nursing home. In the film, Zak escapes from the nursing home to find a wrestling school in Georgia to realize his dream of becoming a wrestling star.

Following the release of The Peanut Butter Falcon, Gottsagen made history. He headed to the Academy Awards with LaBeouf and helped present the live-action short film category award. He became the first presenter in Academy Awards history with Down syndrome, and now he will co-star in a series with Huffman.

While the ABC series does not yet have a title, it does have a story inspired by real life. Huffman stars as Susan Savage, owner of the Triple-A baseball team, the Sacramento River Cats. Savage inherits the minor-league baseball team after her husband’s tragic death. She has to navigate life while running a baseball team.

Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment is producing the new series while Becky Hartman Edwards serves as the writer. Both Huffman and Savage will also serve as executive producers alongside Hartman Edwards, Kaplan, Dana Honor and Artists First’s Joel Zadak. Gottsagen is also a producer on the project. The half-hour, single-camera series currently only has a pilot production commitment.

Huffman served 14 days in federal prison and had to pay a $30,000 fine for her role in a college admissions scandal. She also had to complete 250 hours of community service. Huffman paid admissions consultant William “Rick” Singer $15,000 to alter her daughter Sophia’s SAT scores. Singer reportedly organized the scheme and hired various people through his Key Worldwide Foundation to take tests on behalf of students saying that they needed extra time to take the ACT/SATs.