Tubi hands Nick Emmerson indie debut series commission

Nick Emmerson’s fledgling indie Headers and Volleys Entertainment (HAVE) has netted its first commission, a series for Fox-owned streamer Tubi that follows footballers preparing for the 2026 World Cup.

Destination World Cup 2026 (w/t) is co-produced with 4.4 Forty Media and follows three players on and off the pitch as they balance the demands of an intense club schedule with international commitments.  

The three players have yet to be announced but will be international footballers from Argentina, Morocco and the US.  

The show was unveiled as part of Tubi’s 2025/26 slate, which also saw fellow UK indie Dancing Ledge Productions’ comedy Big Mood land a second series.  

The show picks up a year after the events of the first series, when former best friends Maggie and Eddie find themselves suddenly reunited, albeit with Eddie having a new best friend in the form of positive spiritual healer Whitney.  

Written and created by Camilla Whitehill, it will again be directed by Rebecca Asher, with Lotte Beasley Mestriner, Laurence Bowen and Chris Carey for Dancing Ledge Productions and Whitehill all exec producing . Tubi will co-produce with Channel 4 and Fremantle’s Dancing Ledge. 

Tubi has also confirmed adult animated comedy Breaking Bear, which features a voice cast of Brendan Fraser, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Annie Murphy, Elizabeth Hurley and Josh Gad.  

It follows a dysfunctional family of bears who become criminals to stop frackers, mobsters and a psychotic wolf pack from destroying their home. The series was created by Julien Nitzberg and is produced by Evoke Entertainment and Blink 182 star Tom DeLonge’s outfit To The Stars Media.  

The slate also includes Hive, a real-time horror-thriller starring Xochitl Gomez (Doctor Stranfe in the Multiverse of Madness) as a strict, anxious teenager who loses the child she is babysitting and must face sinister forces hiding in plain sight. The film is written and directed by Felipe Vargas and is produced by Blue Ice Pictures alongside Nick Scully, Adam Friedlander and Darren Cameron. Lance Samuels and Samantha Levine serve as executive producers. 

Other films on the ad-supported streamer’s slate are teen romcoms How to Lose A Popularity Contest and Kissing is the Easy Part, as well as Sidelined 2: Intercepted, a sequel to last year’s holiday hit.  

Adam Lewinson, chief content officer at Tubi, said: “We are committed to listening to our viewers and giving them more of what they love, like a sequel to our viral megahit Sidelines, a second season of the very relevant comedy Big Mood, and more content built around cultural moments such as Destination World Cup 2026. We will continue to amplify our original stories that resonate with our young and diverse viewers.” 

Anjali Sud, chief executive officer of Tubi, added: “Ad-supported streaming has gone from emerging to essential, and Tubi is leading the way with culture-setting originals, World Cup programming and product innovation.  

“In an intensely competitive market, we surpassed a billion dollars in ad revenue and continue to accelerate our traction as brands, agencies and partners increasingly look to resonate authentically with young, hard-to-reach audiences.”