HBO Max Series ‘Outliers’ to Debut with Episode on Dr. Anthony Fauci

Dr. Anthony Fauci is getting the Hollywood treatment with a forthcoming HBO Max anthology series. Outliers is set to debut with and feature the story of the coronavirus task force chief and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The series will be based on the Malcolm Gladwell book of the same name, that chronicled the lives of some of the world’s most successful people and what it cost them to climb to the top of their field.

The new series, being produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, and Samie Kim Falvey will feature a different person each episode, but will start with Fauci. Michael Specter’s New Yorker article entitled, “How Anthony Fauci Became America’s Doctor,” is reportedly the source for the episode.

“We are thrilled to bring Malcolm’s definitive book on achievement to TV. He and Greg have crafted a series that tells truly unique and often unknown stories about figures who’ve shaped our modern world,” Falvey said.

“The point of my book Outliers was that we need to tell the story of success in different ways, looking at the way talent is affected by luck and circumstance and culture and context. I’m thrilled that Imagine wants to take the same approach to storytelling on television,” Gladwell added.

Fauci, an immunologist, has served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984, and has led President Donald Trump’s White House Coronavirus Task Force since January. He was already well-known inside his field, but has now become a household name since he became the face and voice of coronavirus prevention this year.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston.