National Geographic Has 'The Right Stuff' With Its Upcoming Series (PHOTOS)
Activate: The Global Citizens Movement
This six-part documentary series, scheduled to debut this fall, will “take audiences behind the scenes of major advocacy campaigns driving real change for the world’s most marginalized people,” according to a press release, which adds that the show “will focus on extreme poverty, inequality, and sustainability issues.”
Barkskins
Based on the 2016 bestselling novel by Annie Proulx, this series is “a multigenerational dramatic tale about European settlers finding prosperity in the New World through the slow and steady destruction of North America’s forests and native populations.”
Brain Games
Hosted by Key & Peele‘s Keegan-Michael Key, this rebooted series, debuting on December 1, will “[challenge] the world’s biggest celebrities to realize their exceptional brain power through fun and highly entertaining interactive games, illusions, and social experiments,” per its logline, with guests including Kristen Bell, Dax Shepard, Anthony Anderson, and Rebel Wilson.
Expedition Amelia
This two-hour special, debuting October 20, will follow a scientific expedition to finally understand what happened to famed aviator Amelia Earhart, who disappeared on a flight in 1937. Leading the expedition is Dr. Robert Ballard, who found the Titanic shipwreck in 1985.
Genius
After chronicling the lives of Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso, the third season of this Emmy-nominated scripted anthology — premiering in early 2020 — will focus on the Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin, exploring her “musical genius, incomparable career, and the immeasurable impact and lasting influence she had around the world.”
Guests of the Ayatollah
Nat Geo is developing a screen adaptation of this 2006 Mark Bowden non-fiction book, zeroing in on the 1979 Iran hostage crisis in which supporters of the Iranian Revolution raided the U.S. Embassy in Tehran held 52 Americans hostage for more than a year.
The Hot Zone
Following the success of Nat Geo’s limited series about the 1989 Ebola crisis, which starred Julianna Margulies, the network is planning to turn the show into an anthology, eyeing the post-9/11 anthrax scare as a potential topic for a second season, according to Deadline.
Lost Cities With Albert Lin
With the help of cutting-edge technology, Lin, a National Geographic Explorer, will “discover and re-create unexcavated worlds still hidden beneath the earth,” according to a logline, including the Knights Templar in Israel, the Lost Kingdom of the Pacific in Micronesia, and the real-life El Dorado in Colombia. It debuts in October.
Race to the Center of the Earth
This reality competition from the producers of The Amazing Race will feature four teams, each starting from a different corner of the earth, all racing to a buoy in the middle of the ocean to claim a $1,000,000 cash prize.
The Right Stuff
Patrick J. Adams and Jake Dorman lead the cast of this 2020 drama about the space race and the pioneering U.S. astronauts known as the Mercury Seven. “At the heart of a historic drama populated by deeply human characters, two archrivals — John Glenn and Alan Shepard — jockey to become the first man in space,” the logline teases.
After landing 15 Emmy nominations for 2019, National Geographic ranks as the 11th most nominated platform of the year. Add that to the channel's 17 nods and five wins last year, and you have a serious contender on the cable lineup.
And with the exciting series on its development slate, Nat Geo is turning into must-see TV.
Click through the gallery above for 10 series coming soon on the channel!
