Goat: Tyriq Withers joins Marlon Wayans in Jordan Peele-produced sports horror film

A year and a half ago, Get Out, Us, and Nope writer/director Jordan Peele‘s production company Monkeypaw Productions acquired the genre film pitch Goat from writers Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie, the plan being that Peele would be producing Goat as part of Monkeypaw’s overall deal with Universal Pictures. Earlier this month, we learned that Goat is finally moving forward, with Marlon Wayans (Scary Movie) signing on to star in the sports-related horror film as the titular greatest-of-all-time athlete. Now Deadline reports that Wayans is being joined in the cast by Tyriq Withers, whose previous credits include Horror Noire, Senior Year, Tell Me Lies, The Game, and an episode of Atlanta.

Justin Tipping – who made his feature directorial debut with the 2016 drama Kicks – will be directing the film.

Akers and Bronkie’s script centers on a promising young athlete who is invited to train with a team’s retiring star. How exactly horror enters the picture is being kept under wraps. ComicBook.com has heard that the script centers on a rookie QB who goes to train with a retiring star QB who may hold a secret about how he has played so long at such a high level. So obviously the GOAT has been using unusual methods to achieve his success, and finding out about them are going to cause the rookie some trouble.

Withers will be playing the promising young athlete / rookie QB. Deadline notes that “while execs always had their eyes on Wayans for the retiring star, Monkeypaw and Universal met with a number of up-and-comers for the younger star, with Withers rising to the top of the list.”

Writers Akers and Bronkie previously created the Facebook Watch series Limetown, which starred Jessica Biel. Since making Kicks, Tipping has gone on to direct episodes of multiple TV shows, including Black Monday, The Chi, Dear White People, Dare Me, Twenties, Run the World, Flatbush Misdemeanors, and Joe vs. Carole.

Peele is producing Goat with Win Rosenfeld, Ian Cooper, and Jamal Watson. David Kern and Kate Oh serve as executive producers. Universal EVP Production Development Sara Scott and Director of Development Tony Ducret are overseeing the project for the studio.

Does Goat sound interesting to you? What do you think of Marlon Wayans and Tyriq Withers leading the cast? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.