Everything National Geographic Coming To Disney+ Coming In 2021
2021 is going to be a packed year for Disney+ subscribers and National Geographic is going to be releasing a wide selection of new content onto Disney+ including a number of originals.
Here’s a look at the upcoming National Geographic Originals coming to Disney+ in 2021:
Limitless With Chris Hemsworth
What if you could combat aging and discover the full potential of the human body? Global movie star Chris Hemsworth (“Extraction,” “Thor,” “The Avengers”) explores this revolutionary idea in the new National Geographic original series, Limitless With Chris Hemsworth, created by Darren Aronofsky and hailing from his production company Protozoa Pictures and Jane Root’s Nutopia. New scientific research is shattering conventional wisdom about the human body and offering fascinating insights into how we can all unlock our body’s superpowers to fight illness, perform better and even reverse the aging process! This science is put to the test by Hemsworth, who, despite being in peak superhero-condition, is on a personal mission to learn how to stay young, healthy, strong, and resilient. Undergoing a series of epic trials and extraordinary challenges in order to understand the limits of the human body, he’ll learn firsthand how we can live better for longer by discovering ways to regenerate damage, maximize strength, build resilience, supercharge memory and confront mortality. Entertaining, immersive and life-changing, Limitless will rewrite the rulebook on living better for longer.
Welcome to Earth (Working Title)
Hailing from Jane Root’s Nutopia and Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa Pictures, the world’s most charismatic movie star, Will Smith (“Ali,” “The Pursuit of Happyness,” “Bad Boys,” “Bad Boys II,” “Bad Boys For Life” and “Men in Black” I, II, III), embarks on an awe-inspiring global journey to unlock the secrets of the most extraordinary and unexplained phenomena of nature. In each episode, Smith—whose curiosity and wonder is positively infectious—is guided by National Geographic Explorers traveling to different corners of the world to get up close and personal with the weirdest, most unusual, dangerous and thrilling spectacles of the planet. Their mission is to seek out the things and places beyond human perception: the hidden worlds that we can’t see, smell, hear or feel. Only with the aid of cutting-edge technology is it possible to uncover these natural wonders. Smith discovers there are hidden worlds all around us, from the farthest reaches to our doorsteps. He learns how the tiniest details have enormous consequences for this place we call home. This is Earth as you have never seen it before.
Secret Of The Whales
From executive producer and National Geographic Explorer-at-Large James Cameron, narrated by Sigourney Weaver, SECRETS OF THE WHALES is the work of acclaimed National Geographic Explorer and photographer Brian Skerry, as he helps tell the story of a species he’s been documenting for decades. Filmed across 24 locations over three years, it’s a profoundly personal saga, venturing deep into the world of whales to reveal life and love from their perspective. The four-part event series will tell the stories of the extraordinary cultures of five different whale species—orcas, belugas, narwhals, sperm whales and humpback whales.
A Real Bug’s Life
A REAL BUG’S LIFE will be one of the most ambitious and innovative natural history series ever to be made. Only now, with recent advancements in miniaturized technology, can we meet these extraordinary little characters and see our colossal world through their tiny eyes. A REAL BUG’S LIFE takes viewers on an unforgettable journey that exposes us to how these microsized creatures keep our world turning while facing monstrous forces and threats. From New York’s Central Park to your own backyard, each episode immerses the viewer inside a microcosm, where tiny yet extraordinary creatures rely on their mighty abilities to make it through the day. In ten spellbinding episodes, we take you on adventures into a world beyond your imagination to show you what life is like on planet Earth from a bug’s eye view.
America The Beautiful
It’s the land we love and the land we think we know. We see America’s breathtaking landscapes and wildlife as timeless, but the truth is very different. Its unique geography drives the forces of nature to extremes, shaping and reshaping the land and throwing down new challenges for life. From the award-winning producers of “Planet Earth,” Frozen Planet” and the “Disneynature” films, AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL is the ambitious story of our home. Led by the iconic species that resonate with us most, we’re going to journey through America’s visually spectacular regions: the Frozen North, the Wild West, the Grassy Heartland, the Deep South and the Mountainous High Wilderness.
The World According To Jeff Goldblum – Season 2
Early last year, Disney announced that the Disney+ Original series featuring Jeff Goldblum would be returning for a second season. Through the prism of Jeff Goldblum’s always inquisitive and highly entertaining mind, nothing is as it seems in this new series. Each episode is centered around something we all love – like sneakers or ice cream – as Jeff pulls the thread on these deceptively familiar objects and unravels a wonderful world of astonishing connections, fascinating science and history, amazing people, and a whole lot of surprising big ideas and insights.
National Geographic will also be debuting lots of new shows and returning series through 2021, which will then added to Disney+. With more mature shows added to Hulu in the United States.
Last summer, National Geographic announced its lineup for 2021, which includes:
9/11
Six-Part Series From Award-Winning Executive Producers Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin and 72 Films
Emmy Award-winning 72 Films (“Inside North Korea’s Dynasty”) and Oscar-winning executive producers Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin (“Undefeated” and LA 92) have come together to produce landmark documentary series 9/11 to mark 20 years since the attacks. This series has been in production for over two years, and will offer a comprehensive account of the day using only archival footage — some never seen before — and new, original interviews with eyewitnesses who have now had almost two decades to reflect on the events they lived through. The result is one of the most powerful, immersive and emotionally charged accounts ever produced about that fateful day.
BREAKING BOBBY BONES (working title)
16-Part Series Starring Award-Winning Radio Personality Bobby Bones (BBC Studios)
Bobby Bones is one of the most influential radio personalities in America, a bestselling author and a full-time mentor on “American Idol.” Even with all the success, Bobby relates to and identifies most with working-class Americans, and he’ll do whatever it takes to ensure he never loses touch. In each half-hour episode, Bobby travels to far-flung destinations across the country to find people with unique jobs, skills, hobbies and abilities. Upon arrival, he meets local heroes who challenge him to conquer (or at least attempt) the tricks of their trades, living up to his mantra — Fight. Grind. Repeat. It’s an action-packed celebration of resilient Americans who work hard, play hard and above all take pride in everything they do. National Geographic is working with long-time partner BBC Studios on the all-new Breaking Bobby Bones, along with three series under the Emmy-winning Life Below Zero brand.
EXPLORER (produced in partnership with ABC News and Lincoln Square Productions)
The EXPLORER series has long been a hallmark of Nat Geo storytelling since it first launched in 1985. The newly reimagined version of this flagship series will be a truly multiplatform content initiative, in partnership with National Geographic magazine and ABC News. Each single-topic hourlong episode takes viewers inside unfolding expeditions around the globe and to the front lines of groundbreaking scientific, technological and historical discoveries, with ABC News talent serving as guides. EXPLORER will cover timely topics, a featured magazine story and more, further deepening viewers’ understanding of the world through provocative storytelling.
TRAFFICKED WITH MARIANA VAN ZELLER
Armed with National Geographic’s trademark inside access, TRAFFICKED explores the complex and often dangerous inner workings of the global underworld — smuggling networks, and black and informal markets. Each investigation embeds with Peabody and duPont Award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller on a mission to understand a specific black market and the lives of the smugglers and outlaws who run it. Offering a rare peek behind the criminal curtain, she tracks the chain of custody of illicit goods, learns the secrets of the trade and provides a 360-degree view of the trafficking world from the points of view of the traffickers, law enforcement and those caught in the crossfire. As she meets the willing players and unwitting pawns who make, buy, sell and move goods, services and ideas, Mariana attempts — with characteristic boldness and empathy — to unearth the geopolitical circumstances and context that create the world’s multitrillion-dollar shadow economy.
NEW SCRIPTED SERIES:
GENIUS: ARETHA (Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, Clive Davis, Fox 21 Television Studios, MWM Studios and EUE/Sokolow)
Suzan-Lori Parks, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of “Topdog/Underdog,” is executive producer and showrunner for this upcoming season of the first-ever, definitive scripted miniseries on the life of Aretha Franklin, the universally acclaimed “Queen of Soul.” Starring Grammy-, Tony- and Emmy Award-winning and double-Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo as Aretha and Emmy- and Tony Award-winning Courtney B. Vance as C.L. Franklin, the anthology series will explore Aretha’s musical genius, incomparable career, and the immeasurable impact and lasting influence she has had around the world. The legendary singer is one of the world’s bestselling musical artists of all time, with more than 75 million records sold globally during her career.
TORN
Broadcast Premiere Winter 2021
On Oct. 5, 1999, legendary climber Alex Lowe was tragically lost in a deadly avalanche on the Himalayan peak, Mount Shishapangma. Miraculously surviving the avalanche was Alex’s best friend and climbing partner, renowned mountaineer Conrad Anker, who went on to marry Alex’s widow and help raise his three sons. Now, Alex’s son, filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer Max Lowe, turns the lens on his own family as the body of his father is uncovered 17 years after his death. From producer Chris Murphy and award-winning producers Simon Chinn and Jonathan Chinn, comes a profoundly intimate look at the Lowe-Anker family, capturing their intense personal journey toward understanding Alex as a man, not a myth, and the emotionally and physically harrowing trek to Shishapangma, where they will finally put him to rest.
BRAIN GAMES WITH KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY
Ten-Part Second Season (Magical Elves, Alfred Street Industries)
Keegan-Michael Key is back as host of the all-new season of National Geographic’s highly entertaining series BRAIN GAMES. Taking a Hollywood twist to the classic mind-bending format, the new season will challenge some of the world’s biggest celebrities to interactive games and social experiments to reveal the “why” behind the “wow.” Join in the fun as BRAIN GAMES reveals the incredible science of what makes our brains tick! BRAIN GAMES is executive produced by Casey Kriley, Jo Sharon and James Rowley for Magical Elves; Elle Key and Keegan-Michael Key are executive producers; and Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz are executive producers for Alfred Street Industries.
GORDON RAMSAY: UNCHARTED NEW EPISODES
Ten-Part Third Season (Studio Ramsay)
The all-new episodes will feature Gordon Ramsay continuing his journey across the globe, embarking on exhilarating missions to unearth world cultures through food and adventure, familiar ground for Ramsay following his hit U.K. series “Gordon’s Great Escapes.”
RUNNING WILD WITH BEAR GRYLLS
Ten-Part Second Season (Electus, a Propagate Company and The Natural Studios)
National Geographic is officially the new home of the wildly popular hit series RUNNING WILD WITH BEAR GRYLLS, now picked up for a second season. The new season, which includes a new celebrity lineup of adventurers, will transport viewers across remote locations in the U.S. and around the world, where celebrities will push beyond their limits to see if they can endure the harsh landscapes in their high-octane, action-based, fear-tackling journeys. The intrepid cast members will face their deepest fears and confront everything from wild animals to rock rappelling as they journey through some of the world’s most unforgiving wildernesses.
NINTH ANNUAL SHARKFEST
Summer 2021
National Geographic’s ninth annual SHARKFEST takes you up close and personal with one of nature’s most feared — and often misunderstood — predators. The frenzy of SHARKFEST programming is sure to captivate viewers with truth that is stranger than fiction, from the latest developments in shark research and preservation to new ways to predict shark attacks.
WICKED TUNA and WICKED TUNA: OUTER BANKS (Pilgrim Media Group)
National Geographic’s hit series WICKED TUNA is back for its 10th season on the high seas. Follow a group of salty commercial fishermen from the nation’s oldest seaport, Gloucester, Massachusetts, as they earn their living through rod-and-reel fishing in pursuit of the prized bluefin tuna. And later this year, the popular spinoff WICKED TUNA: OUTER BANKS returns. WICKED TUNA: OUTER BANKS follows a Southern fleet of top captains along with the returning Northern boats, all battling to catch bluefin in the dangerous waters off the coast of North Carolina. Battling unpredictable, treacherous conditions, the captains must contend with one another as well as experienced locals who will stop at nothing to beat them to the catch.
LIFE BELOW ZERO, LIFE BELOW ZERO: NEXT GENERATION and LIFE BELOW ZERO: PORT PROTECTION (BBC Studios)
Earlier last year, National Geographic picked up two additional seasons of Life Below Zero and an additional season of Life Below Zero: Port Protection. The common theme in Life Below Zero and Life Below Zero: Port Protection is the cast of people who have left traditional society behind. Instead, they have chosen a different life, with varying degrees of danger and challenges, in the remote regions of Alaska. In addition, the franchise adds new spinoff, Life Below Zero: Next Generation, where an all-new cast will abandon contemporary life and reject it in favor of a life of freedom in the brutal Alaskan wilderness. They will speak to the growing dissatisfaction the current generation has with technology and convenience that are ubiquitous in modern life. Cameras will capture the cast members as they rush to prepare for and survive the frozen months of winter to the spring thaw.
We should also expect some changes to the schedule and more shows to be revealed during 2021.
What are you looking forward to seeing from National Geographic on Disney+ in 2021?
Roger Palmer
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