Discovery Slate Highlights Ellen DeGeneres’ Wildlife Warriors & Others

Discovery Channel has unveiled its factual programming slate, which showcases brand-new nature special Wildlife Warriors (working title) from executive producer Ellen DeGeneres, as well as three series focused on the natural world.

Produced by BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit and DeGeneres’ A Very Good Production for Discovery Channel, Wildlife Warriors (w/t), which was previously announced as The Red List, chronicles the efforts of wildlife conservationists around the world as they compile The Red List, a comprehensive record of the state of the world’s wildlife.

“More than 27,000 species are threatened with extinction,” said DeGeneres. “Some are well-known animals, some aren’t, but all are important to our ecosystem. It is an honor to be part of the team shedding light on the people who work to save our wildlife friends.”

Also on Discovery’s slate is Perfect Planet (w/t) from Emmy- and Bafta-winning executive producer Alastair Fothergill and series producer Huw Cordey. Using state-of-the-art satellite imagery, the five-parter showcases how the forces of nature shape the incredible variety of life on Earth and how animals adapt to them. The series is made by Silverback Films for Discovery Channel and the BBC, and co-produced with Tencent Penguin Pictures and France Télévisions.

Fothergill said: “We all know that Planet Earth is a unique place. It is the right size, orbiting the right distance from the right kind of star, it spins at the right speed, it tilts at just the right angle and it has a single, decent-sized moon. By sheer luck, it is the only planet right now which has the perfect conditions for life.”

Mysterious Planet (w/t), meanwhile, takes viewers on a journey to five different places and highlights the various creatures that live in each location. Each episode goes back in time to explore how the destinations’ unique wildlife came to be. The series is made by NHNZ Productions and Andrew Murray serves as series producer.

Murray said: “Solving nature’s mysteries takes us on some amazing journeys. In this series, we don’t only go to some of the most spectacular places, we see those landscapes change over millions of years, and we see how life is shaped by those great changes. What I’m really excited about is how this gives us a whole fresh take on the natural world!”

The three new series join the previously-announced Serengeti, a series that explores the stories of a cast of African wildlife over the course of a year, showcasing the dramatic moments that make each day of survival in the region a feat. Narrated by Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave), the series comes to life as Emmy winners Simon Fuller and John Downer employ innovative camera techniques to capture the animals’ worlds.

All of these offerings will be part of the network’s Undiscovered—a new banner that will take viewers to the bottom of the oceans to the peaks of Mt. Everest and beyond.

Nancy Daniels, chief brand officer of Discovery and factual, said: “We are going back to our roots to what our audiences crave—jaw-dropping, never-seen-before images of what makes our world so special. Discovery is at its best when unlocking secrets and potentially rewriting history.”