A Different World: Tom Werner wants to make an impact on screen, stage and stadium

Tom Werner has been involved in many successful television shows, from working on Mork & Mindy and Taxi while at ABC to producing series including The Cosby Show, Roseanne, 3rd Rock From The Sun and That's 70s Show at Carsey-Werner. When he went on to own sports as part of a group […]

When he moved into sports ownership as part of the group that bought the Boston Red Sox in 2001 and Liverpool FC in 2010, he wanted to help these teams find their form on the field and return them to greatness.

Liverpool's greatness began with manager Bill Shankly in the 1960s and in a wide-ranging interview boss Werner revealed he has tapped Jude Law to play the legendary football manager in the new series.

That's the goal Netflix recently launched on "A Different World," the series he originally produced for NBC since 1987, which the broadcaster renewed for a second season just a week after it premiered in September. Watch on Deadline

"When Fenway Sports Group got involved with the Red Sox, they hadn't won a World Series in 84 years, and we felt, in a world where we were good stewards, we could restore the Red Sox's legacy and brilliance," Werner told Deadline. "As it relates to a different world, I'm not really interested in the Emmys or the economy right now, I'm interested in impact."

Werner and Debbie Allen, who directed more than half of A Different's original 144-episode run, had been working on bringing the show back for some time before pairing up with showrunner Felicia Pride, who has written on series including Queen Sugar, Grey's Anatomy and Bel-Air.

"The reason we wanted to bring it back really had to do with the fact that I felt like it would have an impact at best," he said.

When A Different World premiered, enrollment at historically black colleges and universities (HCBUs) increased by about 25 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Over the past few years, HCBUs have also seen an increase in enrollment with Howard University receiving a record number of applications in 2024.

"I hope this reboot, well done, doesn't just speak to relevant social issues, which it does ... but that there was something we could have had a similar impact on," he added. "It's a lot different than when you're like, 'Why don't we do a freshman show at Purdue?'

Netflix's "A Different World" revolves around Deborah, played by Malejoy Moon, the free-spirited, well-meaning, yet rebellious youngest child of Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison) and Wheatley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy), during her first year in the best new generation at Hillman College and the smartest student.

This ten-part series covers topics such as the state of ICE, sexual assault, and college funding issues, all current issues that colleges and students must deal with now. Werner added: "I'm very proud of the impact and I'm happy that the audience seems to have responded."

In its opening few days, the show ranked fourth on Netflix's Top Ten with 4.2 million views and reached number one in 12 countries.

Werner, who has been chairman of Liverpool FC since 2010, hopes a project about his favorite football club will have a similar effect.

The club is working with Biff Studios A24, producers of box-to-box films Drive To Survive and teenage writer Jack Thorne, on the series, which initially revolved around legendary manager Bill Shankly, who helped turn the club into a global powerhouse.

He believes that this series can become like Taj. "It's a story about family and relationships through the lens of a football club," he said. "My feeling is that if you don't do more in the first episode than show 50,000 people singing 'You'll Never Go Alone,' I defy anyone who isn't moved by that scene," he added.

Werner also revealed that Black Rabbit star Jude Law has joined the cast as Shankly.

Elsewhere, he's also working with Lionsgate on a TV project he's financing. "I always found that when we sold The Cosby Show, money came second. What mattered was that we were actually telling stories that we hoped would resonate, and I still think I'm doing that. Sometimes, I'll put my money into it. We'll finance it and then we'll sell it and get a distributor. Otherwise, you might have stories. You have not added to the audience."

In recent years, Werner also became heavily involved in theater. He produced a one-man adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, directed by Kip Williams, and won a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award for Succession Star, led by Sarah Snook. He also produced a stage adaptation of the 1952 western High Noon, starring Billy Crudup as Marshall Will Kane, which opened at London's Harold Pinter Theater earlier this year.

The adaptation of High Noon was written by Eric Roth, who wrote the screenplays for films including Forrest Gump, The Insider, Munich and The Hill. Roth and Werner, along with Frozen choreographer Rob Ashford, are now working on a music event featuring pop group Imagine Dragons in Las Vegas.

"Eric wrote the script, which was a script for Netflix. This project has turned into something that is a musical performance/concert piece. It's exciting because it's going to be more than just a concert, because it's a wonderful love story between two people who fall in love in college and it follows their journey," he said.

Werner also has a one-man theatrical event based on the life of Rodney Dangerfield in development with Joan Dangerfield for Broadway or Off-Broadway with Danny Goldstein.

On the TV side, Werner said that while he's not interested in selling the Carsey-Werner library, which is considered very valuable in today's landscape, he has received calls about rebooting a third Rock From The Sun. "It was one of my favorite shows because working with John Lithgow was just a dream.

"I'm a storyteller and I love to tell and read and engage with good stories," Werner concluded.

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