​​How Prime Video's 'A League of Their Own' Links to the Original

A League of Their Own comes to Prime Video this August, 30 years after the original movie taught us that "there's no crying in baseball."

The Prime Video version takes the same real-life story of the Penny Marshall movie, which told the tale of a female baseball league established during World War II.

An original A League of Their Own cast member has confirmed she will be back in the 2022 version – and that is not the only connection between the two properties.

However, the Amazon version also makes some major changes that bring the story into more 2022 sensibilities.

Is Prime Video's A League of Their Own linked to the original?

The new version is a retelling of the story rather than a sequel to the original, but with new characters and its own storylines. The team, however, is the same – the Rockford Peaches, a real baseball team who played in the All-American Girls Professional League from 1943 to 1954.

As with the original, the action begins in 1943 as America's men head into World War II and women finally get their chance to play professional baseball.

Though the team is the same, the characters are new. The 1992 version, for example, included Geena Davis as catcher Dottie Hinson, Lori Petty as pitcher Kit Keller and Tom Hanks as manager Jimmy Dugan. Now, those roles are taken by Carson Shaw (played by Abbi Jacobsen), Lupe (Roberta Colindrez) and Casey Porter (Nick Offerman) respectively.

In a Hollywood Reporter interview, Jacobsen, the show's creator, said that the new characters have traits that fans of the movie will recognise. The Broad City star said: "I don't think any characters are really mapped on to anyone. D'Arcy [Carden's] character has a Madonna vibe but is nothing like that character, at all. Melanie Fields' character, Joe, is a little bit of a Rosie visual."

At least one cast member from the movie will be returning, but in a new role. Rosie O'Donnell, who played Doris Murphy in the original film, will play Vi, the owner of a local gay bar. In an Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino interview, O'Donnell said: "I love the Broad City women and when I was told [Abbi] was doing League, she called me up and said, 'Ro, would you do it?' And I said, 'In a minute.'"

As the inclusion of a lesbian bar suggests, the new version will be more progressive in its LGBTQ+ representation. The show will feature several queer characters, including a Black transgender character. The inclusion of queer characters does reflect the real league, which included players like Terry Donahue, whose 70-year relationship with her wife was the subject of the Netflix doc A Secret Love.

The show will also expand on the brief scenes in the movie starring Black players. One new storyline is that of Chanté Adams' Max, who is forced to join the Black male league after being shut out of the women's league due to her race. Again, this is based on real stories, this time of three Black female players (Connie Morgan, Toni Stone and Mamie Johnson) who competed in what was then called the Negro League.

Though the Prime Video series is its own story, Jacobsen said there are a "couple nods" to the movie, adding: "In the pilot, we nod to the movie the most, and there are nods as you keep going."

A League of Their Own comes to Prime Video on Friday, August 12.