Cosmos: Possible Worlds | |
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Genre | Science documentary |
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Written by |
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Directed by |
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Presented by | Neil deGrasse Tyson |
Composer | Alan Silvestri |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 13 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producers |
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Cinematography | Karl Walter Lindenlaub |
Running time | 44 minutes |
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Release | March 9, 2020 present | –
Cosmos: Possible Worlds is an American science documentary television series that premiered on March 9, 2020, on National Geographic. The series is a follow-up to the 2014 television series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, which followed the original Cosmos: A Personal Voyage series presented by Carl Sagan on PBS in 1980. The series is presented by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson; written, directed and executive produced by Ann Druyan and Brannon Braga; with other executive producers being Seth MacFarlane and Jason Clark. The series consists of 13 episodes that will be broadcast over seven weeks and will later air on Fox in mid-2020.[1][2][3][4]
On January 13, 2018, it was announced that another season titled Cosmos: Possible Worlds would debut in 2019 on Fox and National Geographic channels, to be hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson and executive produced by Ann Druyan, Seth MacFarlane, Brannon Braga, and Jason Clark.[5][6] The studio portions were filmed at Santa Fe Studios with plans for location shooting in the Pacific Northwest, Europe, and Asia.
This 13-episode sequel series was slated to premiere on March 3, 2019, on Fox, and the following day on National Geographic.[7][8] However, from December 2018 through February 2019, deGrasse Tyson became the subject of sexual harassment allegations. Both National Geographic and Fox stated they would investigate these allegations, and indefinitely postposted the premiere of Cosmos on February 15, 2019.[9][10] National Geographic and Fox completed their investigation and cleared Tyson of the allegations by March 15, 2019, and affirmed that Cosmos would resume at some point.[11]
The series premiered in early March 2020 in the United States on the National Geographic Channel and was scheduled to air on Fox afterwards, as well as in 172 other countries.[1]
Druyan expects the series to be inspiring, with a strong emphasis on a hopeful future, and she hopes that the series will help correct antiscience rhetoric and policies.[12] Druyan also stated that, due to current events, she was motivated "by a greater sense of urgency" when writing the new series as compared to the previous series.[1] Regarding a line she wrote for episode 1: "Our ship of the imagination is propelled by twin engines of skepticism and wonder" Druyan said:
I’m very proud of that line, because that’s the point. You don’t have to have one at the expense of the other … an equal measure of both always. For me, science and skepticism were the means to have the greatest spiritual experiences of my life. And every one of them was about having a somewhat deeper sense of the romance of being alive in the Cosmos, and the beauty of nature. The universe that science reveals is so much more amazing than our ancestors could ever have anticipated, because they had never seen the curtain of darkness peeled away … and actually seen the vastness and began to know something of just how big it all is."[1]
No. | Title [13] | Directed by | Written by [14] | Original air date [15] | Prod. code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
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1 | "Ladder to the Stars" | Brannon Braga | Ann Druyan | March 9, 2020 | YNF201 | 0.535[16] |
2 | "The Fleeting Grace of the Habitable Zone" | Ann Druyan | Ann Druyan and Brannon Braga | March 9, 2020 | YNF211 | 0.364[16] |
3 | "Lost City of Life" | Brannon Braga | Ann Druyan and Brannon Braga | March 16, 2020 | YNF203 | 0.421[17] |
4 | "Vavilov" | Ann Druyan | Ann Druyan and Brannon Braga | March 16, 2020 | YNF204 | 0.444[17] |
5 | "The Cosmic Connectome" | Ann Druyan | Ann Druyan and Brannon Braga | March 23, 2020 | YNF205 | 0.356[18] |
6 | "The Man of a Trillion Worlds" | Ann Druyan | Ann Druyan and Brannon Braga & André Bormanis | March 23, 2020 | YNF206 | 0.401[18] |
7 | "The Search for Intelligent Life on Earth" | Brannon Braga | Ann Druyan and Brannon Braga | March 30, 2020 | YNF207 | 0.457[19] |
8 | "The Sacrifice of Cassini" | Ann Druyan | Ann Druyan and Brannon Braga | March 30, 2020 | YNF208 | 0.520[19] |
9 | "Magic Without Lies" | Brannon Braga | Ann Druyan and Brannon Braga | April 6, 2020 | YNF209 | 0.384[20] |
10 | "A Tale of Two Atoms" | Brannon Braga | Based on a story by : Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan and Steven Soter Teleplay by : Ann Druyan and Brannon Braga | April 6, 2020 | YNF210 | 0.407[20] |
11 | "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" | Brannon Braga | Inspired by "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" by : Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Teleplay by : Ann Druyan and Brannon Braga | April 13, 2020 | YNF202 | 0.390[21] |
12 | "Coming of Age in the Anthropocene" | Ann Druyan | Ann Druyan and Brannon Braga | April 13, 2020 | YNF212 | 0.375[21] |
13 | "Seven Wonders of the New World" | Unknown | Ann Druyan | April 20, 2020 | YNF213 | N/A |
When asked if she was planning another season of Cosmos, Druyan said "I very much have season four in mind, and I know what it’s going to be. And I even know some of the stories that I want to tell in it."[1]
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