Former teen boy band member Nick Jonas has undergone a serious makeover as he is set to star in upcoming DIRECTV show Kingdom.
The series centres around father and former fighter Alvey (Frank Grillo) and his two sons Nate (Nick Jonas) and Jay (Jonathan Tucker). The 21-year-old Nick, best known as a member of the Jonas Brothers, will play the role of the younger son who has just been released from prison and embarks on a new path as an MMA fighter.
The show was originally to be named Navy St. but was renamed Kingdom in June. It looks like it will be a gritty affair with themes of sex, drugs and family troubles mixed in with professional fighting, making it a drastic change from Jonas’ old image as a clean-cut teenage musician.
In these times when the UFC are making every effort to push the sport of MMA into the mainstream and break into new international territories, an MMA-based show such as this with some star power could prove helpful to the movement. Of course, that all depends on how the sport is presented – we can only hope it is shown to be the legitimate athletic endeavour it is and not an animalistic blood sport.
Kingdom is set to debut on DIRECTV’s Audience network in the US on Wednesday October 8th.
Watch the full trailer below.