Carl Sagan’s iconic documentary series Cosmos was influential to people all over the world. Originally released in 1980, the original season was incredibly successful, airing in more than 60 countries and picking up two Emmys and a Peabody Award.
Gizmodo has partnered with National Geographic to get you geared up for Cosmos: Possible Worlds.
Cosmos takes scientific theories and concepts and presents them in a way that’s easy to understand, using metaphors and everyday examples to illustrate the points to ordinary people. The original season, A Personal Voyage, covered topics like evolution, astronomy, space travel, relativity, the human brain and more.
Continuing Sagan’s legacy of teaching science to the world, a second season, A Spacetime Odyssey, was released in 2014 and explored topics like the wave theory of light, electromagnetism, global warming and more. Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane was largely responsible for the show’s revival, serving as an instrumental investor and executive producer.
Cosmos was renewed for a third season, which kicks off on Monday March 9 at 8.30pm AEDT on National Geographic. Titled Possible Worlds, it’s set to be one of the most interesting seasons yet, showcasing humanity’s search for new worlds in our galaxy and beyond. You can see the trailer below.
Sagan’s wife, Ann Druyan, served as creator, executive producer, writer and director on the upcoming season. She co-wrote the original season alongside Sagan.
“This third season of Cosmos: Possible Worlds is our boldest yet,” she said in a statement. “The “˜Ship of the Imagination’ will carry us places we never dared to venture before: lost worlds and worlds to come, deep into the future and straight through that hole in the curtain masking other realities ” and all of it rigorously informed by science and made real by lavish VFX.”
Possible Worlds will again be hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and will also star MacFarlane as America’s 33rd president, Harry Truman, and Patrick Stewart as astronomer William Herschel.
If you have an interest in space travel, the weirdness of the universe or just science in general, the Cosmos series may be right up your alley.