Nat Geo Reveals Ebola Drama, Hostile Planet Factual Series & More

At its “FURTHER Front” upfront presentation in New York, National Geographic unveiled new scripted highlights, including The Hot Zone with Ridley Scott, as well as upcoming factual fare such as Hostile Planet from Guillermo Navarro, while Nat Geo WILD and Nat Geo Mundo also revealed fresh programming slates.

The Hot Zone is a scripted series based on the international bestseller of the same name by Richard Preston, with Scott on board as an executive producer. The series comes from Lynda Obst Productions, Fox 21 Television Studios, Kelly Souders, Brian Peterson, Jeff Vintar and Scott Free Productions. The series recounts the true story of the origins of the Ebola virus, a highly infectious deadly virus from the central African rain forest, and its first arrival on U.S. soil.

The network announced three new scripted series in development as well. This includes Hidden Figures, from Chernin Entertainment and Pharrell Williams. Inspired by the Oscar-nominated movie, the anthology series will tell the stories of people whose contributions to science, technology and innovation have been overlooked by history. Each season of the anthology series will shine a light on someone whose important contributions have been unjustly marginalized. The White House Detail is an insider’s look at the personal and professional lives of the U.S. Secret Service agents assigned to protect the president and the first family beginning with the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy. The project is based on Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin’s New York Times bestseller Five Presidents. From Paramount Television, Scott Free Productions, Tom McCarthy and Greg Walker comes Ten Borders. The six-part limited series centers on five unrelated individuals who are inexorably pulled into one another’s lives through the mass exodus of humanity from war-torn Syria to the safe refuge of Sweden.

National Geographic also revealed that the third season of its acclaimed scripted anthology series Genius will bring to life the mythmaker and literary figure Mary Shelley. From Fox 21 Television Studios, the new season will again be executive produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment, MWM Studios and EUE/Sokolow, and will premiere globally on National Geographic in 172 countries and 43 languages in 2019.

“The incredible audience response to our scripted programming, including award nominations for Genius and the overwhelming critical praise—and Critics Choice Award nomination—for The Long Road Home have emboldened our scripted strategy,” said Courteney Monroe, CEO of National Geographic Global Networks. “We’ve proved we can make noise in a crowded marketplace by utilizing the premium power of the National Geographic brand and working with the right talent.”

Regarding factual series, Hostile Planet is a new six-part series from executive producer and Academy Award-winning cinematographer and director Guillermo Navarro (Pan’s Labyrinth), Emmy-nominated producer Martha Holmes (The Blue Planet) and Emmy Award-winning Tom Hugh-Jones (Planet Earth II). It spotlights animals that have adapted to even the cruelest evolutionary curveballs.

In Their Words, in partnership with Tom Jennings, comes on the heels of the success of National Geographic’s Diana: In Her Own Words and its Emmy Award-winning Challenger Disaster: Lost Tapes. In Their Own Words will weave stories together from original, long-forgotten audio and film recordings from around the world. Meanwhile, Chain of Command: Secret Service will immerse viewers in the high-stakes world of the officers assigned to protect the President of the United States. The second season of the Chain of Command franchise will premiere in early 2019 after National Geographic camera teams embed with the elite agency over the course of a year.

There are new feature docs coming to Nat Geo as well. They are Science Fair, which looks at nine students from around the world as they prepare for the 2017 International Science and Engineering Fair; Into the Okavango, about the river basin in Africa; and Free Solo, which follows the first-ever free solo climb of El Capitan’s most significant and challenging route, ascending the 3,000-foot vertical rock face in Yosemite National Park. There are also specials such as Mission to the Sun, celebrating NASA’s upcoming July mission, and Apollo 50th Anniversary.

Meanwhile, Nat Geo WILD has lined up its ninth annual Big Cat Week, set for November; its fifth annual BarkFest, taking place in September; and seventh annual SharkFest, a summer 2019 event. Specials coming to the network include Pupparazzi, following sought-after “dogtographers” Kaylee Greer and her fiance, Sam; The Flood, which tracks the lives of the animals fighting to survive in a dramatic and unpredictable wilderness; Zeb Hogan’s Monster Fish: Philippines; and Tree Lions, about a little-known spot in Uganda where big cats climb massive trees. Upcoming series highlights include Prairie Dog Home Companion, Babies Diary and Savage Kingdom III: After the Fall. Nat Geo WILD is also launching two new digital series: Untamed, a second season of which premieres this fall, and a Bertie Gregory series with the eponymous wildlife filmmaker and photographer.

Nat Geo Mundo has greenlit Bios, which follows the lives and works of icons in Latin American popular culture and seeks to shed light on the social impact these legends had on entire regions. That show is part of a co-production deal with National Geographic in Latin America. Paying further homage to National Hispanic Heritage Month, the network will air Spanish-language original specials on Sunday nights from September 15 to October 15. This includes Giant Carnivorous Bats, a special on a rare breed of bats found in Mexico, and Wild Mexico, a three-part natural history series about the country’s diverse landscapes. Also returning for a second year are National Geographic Explorers Fabio Amador and Andres Ruzo, who once again team up with top archaeologists to explore ancestral sites in Mexico in Secrets of the Underworld.