Latest in National Geographic

Free Solo filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin dealt with a mountain of challenges as they worked on their latest white knuckle documentary, The Rescue. The National Geographic release tells the gripping story of the attempt to rescue 12 young members of a Thai soccer club and their assistant coach who…

Filmmaker Max Lowe was just a kid when his father, the mountaineer Alex Lowe, was killed in an avalanche while climbing in the Tibetan Himalayas. It was a private family tragedy, and yet a public story—Lowe's death made headlines around the world because he was considered perhaps the greatest mountain climber of his…

“Anthrax spores do not just die — they settle. They lie in wait.” That chilling reminder leads the first trailer for The Hot Zone: Anthrax, National Geographic’s series about the wave of terror that gripped the country 20 years ago. In the weeks after the 9/11 attacks, several news-media offices and some prominent…

In the summer of 2018, a story out of Thailand seized the world’s attention: 12 boys who were members of a soccer club and their coach became trapped in a flooded cave, and there was very little hope of rescuing them. British amateur cave divers, a team of American military personnel and Thai Navy SEALS joined forces…

Filmmaker Liz Garbus is nominated for an Emmy this year for directing an episode of the Hulu dystopian drama The Handmaid's Tale, but she isn't abandoning her work in documentary. Garbus's latest nonfiction film, Becoming Cousteau, holds its international premiere at TIFF following an unveiling earlier this month at…

It was always going to be very difficult for documentary filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin to equal their sweaty palms masterpiece Free Solo, but they come close enough with The Rescue. Unlike their 2018 Oscar-winner, which focused on one dare-devil climber's attempt to scale something close to a…

Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios is expanding its relationship with National Geographic with a five-year first-look deal for unscripted content. The pact comes ahead of Smith’s new adventure series Welcome to Earth for Disney+, which is slated to premiere on the streaming platform later this year. The deal includes the…

Former Assistant Chief of The New York City Fire Department Joseph Pfeifer is among the first responders who have been celebrated and commemorated for their brave actions during the 9/11 attacks. Now, on the historical event’s 20th anniversary, Pfeifer says there’s a “new generation of heroes” worth honoring. During a…

Following the success of National Geographic limited series The Hot Zone, showrunner-EPs Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson and EP David Zucker looked at around 100 ideas for a second season, landing subject-wise on the harrowing anthrax attacks of 2001. From the perspective of Peterson, The Hot Zone: Anthrax was…

National Geographic is expanding its unscripted slate with greenlights for three new series — Life Below Zero: First Alaskans, a spinoff of the Emmy-winning Life Below Zero franchise, Appetite for Adventure with BBQ pitmaster Big Moe Cason, and The 7 Toughest Days on Earth with adventurer and explorer Dwayne Fields…

As a Tony, Emmy and Grammy winner and Oscar nominee who just recorded her first solo album of original music, Cynthia Erivo is well-acquainted with artistic challenges. But the prospect of portraying Aretha Franklin in National Geographic’s third season of its Genius anthology series was unlike anything she had…

National Geographic has unveiled a trailer and premiere date for 9/11: One Day In America, a documentary series, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania. The six-part series, produced in official partnership with the 9/11 Memorial…