Joseph Gordon-Levitt To Play Uber CEO In Showtime Anthology Series

Showtime has announced that actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt (The Trial of the Chicago 7) will star as Uber CEO Travis Kalanick in an upcoming biopic series about the ride-sharing app and its co-founder and first CEO. Titled Super Pumped, the series is being described as an anthology that each season will shift focus to "explore a story that rocked the business world to its core and changed culture."

Based on New York Times technology correspondent Mike Isaac's 2019 book by the same name, Super Pumped is being adapted by Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Billions, Rounders) and Beth Schacter (Soundtrack), but doesn't yet have a production start or release date. Gordon-Levitt is the only cast member announced so far.

"Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a remarkably intelligent and charismatic actor, embodying charm with an unpredictable edge," said Amy Israel, executive vice president of scripted programming for Showtime Networks. "We are beyond excited to see what he will bring to the role of Travis Kalanick, the hyper-brilliant and controversial CEO whose ambition and reckless drive threatened the very enterprise he was determined to build."

A release also offers a sense of the story's overall arc, describing the plot as telling the story of "one of Silicon Valley's most successful and most destructive unicorns, Uber… [the series] will depict the roller-coaster ride of the upstart transportation company, embodying the highs and lows of Silicon Valley."

Even with a planned anthology series on the way, this is far from the only show now in development dramatizing the Silicon Valley scene. Although Saturday Night Live's Kate McKinnon recently dropped out of Hulu's Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos show, the streaming service is still planning to proceed and is expected to start filming this summer. (McKinnon, meanwhile, is still lined up for a lead role on the Joe Exotic TV show for NBC Universal.)