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Photography by Erica Parise/Netflix

Get Ready to Add GLOW to Your Binge-Watch List (Seriously)

When Alison Brie first heard about the concept behind GLOW—a show inspired by the behind-the-scenes action of the 1986 television program of the same name—she didn’t quite know what to make of it. “Hearing that idea as a show seemed totally unbelievable, and at the same time I couldn’t believe that it hadn’t been done yet,” she says.

The latest addition to Netflix’s growing roster of original programs, GLOW tells the story of Ruth Wilder (Brie), a struggling yet determined actress in L.A. who lives off of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and is disenchanted with the lack of leading female roles in the male-dominated biz. Eventually, she gets called to a casting for an all-female wrestling show helmed by a coked-up, D-list director named Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron), who also happens to be a huge jerk.

glow-netflix
Photography by Erica Parise/Netflix

Executive produced by Orange is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan, GLOW features performances by Betty Gilpin (Nurse Jackie), Sunita Mani (Mr. Robot) and Chris Lowell (Veronica Mars), as well as newcomers Britney Young, Sydelle Noel and Britt Baron.

To prep for their roles, the cast underwent four and a half weeks of training with Chavo Guerrero Jr.—of the famed Guerrero wrestling family—to master classic moves like the suplex and the head scissor. (The latter isn’t as NSFW as it sounds.)

While the characters on GLOW are completely fictional, Brie says she watched old episodes of the program, as well as the 2012 documentary GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, to get acquainted with what GLOW was all about. “It wasn’t only the style of wrestling but also the silliness of the characters and the sketches and the rapping that these women were doing,” she says. And the cast delivers.

All 10 episodes will be available on Netflix on Friday, June 23, 2017. In the meantime, check out the clip below for a behind-the-scenes look at the show.

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