National Geographic has greenlit a new documentary that will follow a group of scientists as they work to discover the patterns for future pandemics and how to prevent them from happening. Virus Hunters will air worldwide this November on National Geographic.
What’s Happening:
- National Geographic announced today the greenlight of Virus Hunters produced by ABC News’ Lincoln Square Productions.
- Premiering Sunday, November 1 at 9/8c, Virus Hunters will reveal the raw and chilling stories of heroic experts currently searching to identify the chain of events that could cause the next global pandemic.
- The chain of events that sets off a pandemic can be broken — remove one domino and you can prevent the loss of millions of lives.
- The documentary is led by National Geographic fellow, epidemiologist and ecologist, Christopher Golden and ABC News foreign correspondent James Longman.
- Together, Golden and Longman will embark on an epic journey across continents to meet with the brave scientists on a quest to not only understand and stop the COVID-19 outbreak, but also prevent the next deadly pandemic.
- Virus Hunters will serve as a documentary companion special to the single-topic November issue of the magazine focusing on COVID-19.
- For more of National Geographic’s coverage of COVID-19, visit natgeo.com/coronavirus and check out the special issue on nationalgeographic.com beginning mid-October.
About the Documentary:
- “Virus Hunters will follow explorers Christopher Golden and James Longman as they process through airports, hail taxis and navigate through every human interaction that’s been tainted by the current global pandemic. With infections and deaths spiking around the world, they will join the urgent fieldwork of these Virus Hunters who are currently posted at the following potential hot zones: United States, Liberia, Thailand and Turkey.”
Meet the Virus Hunters:
- A team of experts stands at the forefront of science and exploration and are willing to risk it all to unlock human virus mysteries. The Virus Hunter team includes:
- Jim Desmond, Disease and Wildlife Interventionist
- Supaporn Wacharaplusadee, Virus Gene Tracker
- Kendra Phelps, Badass Bat Scientist
- Rohit Chitale, Researcher for U.S. Defense Department / Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
- A Local Wildlife Ranger will also be featured to be named at a later date
Creative Team:
- Virus Hunters is produced by Lincoln Square Productions for National Geographic.
- For Lincoln Square Productions:
- Jeanmarie Condon and Drew Pulley are co-executive producers.
- For National Geographic:
- Executive producer is Bengt Anderson
- Vice president of production is Matt Renner
- Senior vice president of production and development is Alan Eyres
- Executive vice president of National Geographic unscripted entertainment is Geoff Daniels