Jacob Tierney is moving from jerseys and helmets to tunics and cloaks.
The Heated Rivalry creator will adapt Annabel Lyon’s The Golden Mean, a novel about Alexander the Great and his childhood tutor, Aristotle, as a series, Netflix announced.
Lyon’s novel, published in 2010 by Knopf, tells the story of Alexander and his long friendship with Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, “As authoritative and compelling as Mary Renault’s renowned novels set in the ancient world. One hopes we may learn more about Lyon’s immeasurably brilliant, unflappably human Aristotle.”
Tierney, the co-creator of the popular Canadian sitcom Letterkenny, is now best known as the writer and director of Heated Rivalry, the phenomenally popular series based on Rachel Reid’s gay-themed hockey romance novels. The show’s first season aired late last year on HBO Max in the U.S., and a second season is scheduled to begin airing in April 2027.
Tierney will write and direct the Golden Mean adaptation, titled Alexander. He and actor Jason Bateman are among the series’ executive producers.
“I fell in love with Annabel Lyon’s book The Golden Mean years ago and have been dreaming of telling this story ever since,” Tierney said in a statement. “[Executive producer] Brendan [Brady] and I couldn’t be more excited to be partnering with [production company] Aggregate and Netflix to bring this insanely compelling world to life.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
