You Won’t Recognize Millie Bobby Brown In Her Most Serious Netflix Role Yet

Millie Bobby Brown is lining up a very different kind of Netflix gig, and yeah, this one sounds like the most grown-up thing she has tackled yet. As Stranger Things heads into the home stretch, she is pivoting from dragons and detectives to a real-life sports drama with some serious awards-season energy.

The project (and the inside baseball)

• Title: Perfect, the next film from director Gia Coppola
• Where it lands: Netflix is in talks to pick it up (not signed, sealed, and delivered yet)
• Who: Millie Bobby Brown, the Emmy-nominated UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, is expected to lead and is in final negotiations to play Kerri Strug
• What it is: A biopic centered on Strug and the 1996 U.S. women’s gymnastics team, aka the Magnificent Seven
• Why it matters: It would be Brown’s first time playing a real historical figure
• When: Filming is aiming to start next spring

So, what is Perfect actually about?

If you remember the 1996 Olympics, you remember Kerri Strug. The film zeroes in on that insanely tense final where Strug, competing on an injured ankle, stuck her vault to secure gold for the U.S. Her coach carried her off the mat, and the moment basically became instant sports legend. Perfect is heading straight for that chapter of Olympic history, which is the kind of thing you can already picture in a trailer with swelling strings and slow motion.

Why this is a big swing for Brown

Brown has been steadily widening her range at Netflix for a while. In between Stranger Things seasons, she headlined and produced the Enola Holmes movies, slayed a dragon in Damsel, and is set to share the frame with robots in The Electric State. But stepping into Kerri Strug’s shoes is a different ask: it is not just action or emotion, it is a real person, a very specific moment, and a lot of physical and psychological precision. If she nails it, this is the kind of role that can change how people see her.

And yeah, there is precedent. Sports biopics can be rocket fuel in awards season. Think I, Tonya putting Margot Robbie firmly in the Oscar conversation back in 2018. Perfect feels like the kind of project that could put Brown on a similar track.

Gia Coppola’s lane

Coppola broke out with the film-festival favorite Palo Alto and most recently drew fresh attention with The Last Showgirl, which earned Pamela Anderson a Golden Globe nomination. Pairing her with a story as pressure-cooker specific as Strug’s makes sense; Coppola tends to find nuance in messy, high-stakes moments.

The bottom line

It is not official-official until the ink dries, but a Millie Bobby Brown-led Kerri Strug biopic at Netflix, directed by Gia Coppola, sounds like a smart next step as Stranger Things wraps. It is ambitious, it is serious, and if the execution matches the pitch, do not be surprised if this one is part of the awards conversation down the line.