Cosmos: Possible Worlds

Cosmos: Possible Worlds is an American science documentary series that first aired on National Geographic on March 9, 2020. It continues the thread of the 2014 show Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, which in turn was a successor to Carl Sagan’s 1980 PBS series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson hosts the program. Ann Druyan and Brannon Braga wrote, directed, and executive-produced it, with Seth MacFarlane and Jason Clark also serving as executive producers.

The series has 13 episodes, broadcast over seven weeks. It later made its Fox debut on September 22, 2020. Braga described the title as referring both to distant planets and to the future as a kind of possible world.

Development began with a January 2018 announcement that the season would air in 2019 on Fox and National Geographic, hosted by Tyson and executive produced by Druyan, MacFarlane, Braga, and Clark. Studio filming took place at Santa Fe Studios, with location shoots planned for the Pacific Northwest, Europe, and Asia. The premiere was originally set for March 3, 2019, on Fox and the next day on National Geographic. However, from December 2018 through February 2019, Tyson faced sexual harassment allegations. Both networks said they would investigate and postponed the premiere indefinitely on February 15, 2019. On March 15, 2019, they completed their investigation without disclosing results and confirmed the series would eventually air. It finally premiered in early March 2020 in the U.S. on National Geographic, with a later Fox airing and broadcasts in 172 other countries.

Druyan aimed for the series to be inspiring and hopeful, with a focus on a positive future, and hoped it would counter antiscience attitudes and policies. She said current events gave her a greater urgency while writing compared to the previous series. She highlighted a line from episode one: “Our ship of the imagination is propelled by twin engines of skepticism and wonder,” explaining that science and skepticism can coexist with spiritual experience. The series’ tone is optimistic. Tyson called it “a very hopeful vision of what we can do if we’re enlightened enough.” Druyan expressed hope that listening to scientists could help humanity escape its self-made problems. She received the National Geographic Further Award at the 2020 Sun Valley Film Festival for her work on the show.