National Geographic Channel Picks up Second Season of ONE STRANGE ROCK from Darren Aronofsky's Protozoa Pictures and Jane Root's Nutopia

Hailed as 'Dramatic & Sweeping,' With 'Dazzling Cinematography' and 'Nonstop Visual Wows,' Debut Season Reached 81 Million Viewers Globally

Sophomore Season Set to Begin Production February 2019

WASHINGTON & LOS ANGELES -- National Geographic Global Networks CEO Courteney Monroe announced today during the network's session at the Television Critics Press Tour that the network has greenlit a second season of the critically acclaimed global hit series ONE STRANGE ROCK. Currently in pre-production, the sophomore season will begin principal photography February 2019.

Once again partnering with filmmakers Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel and Scott Franklin and their production company Protozoa Pictures ("Requiem for a Dream," "Black Swan," "Noah," "The Fountain"), and with powerhouse producer Jane Root ("America: The Story of Us") and Peter Lovering ("The 90s: The Last Great Decade") of Nutopia, the second season will begin production this fall.

Praised critically as "required viewing," "a visual feast" and "awe-inspiring," the premiere season became the network's fourth most watched series globally, with 81 million viewers. The series concluded its run in May and National Geographic partnered with FOX to air an encore presentation of the season this summer on FOX.

"The tremendous success of ONE STRANGE ROCK is a testament to the power of innovative storytelling and an exceptional creative team. With the creative vision of Darren Aronofsky and the expertise of Jane Root and Nutopia, ONE STRANGE ROCK stretches the traditional boundaries of science and natural history programming," said Monroe. "It takes viewers on a breathtaking visual adventure that not only entertains, but also amazes and surprises."

"With National Geographic and the wealth of talent and experience of Jane and Nutopia, we took on this ambitious project to give audiences a new perspective on our living planet," said Aronofsky. "There was so much more we wanted to cover in the first season and couldn't. I'm grateful we now have the opportunity to bring more of the beauty and wonder of our planet to the screen."

"There's just so much more to tell, and to be able to continue the epic story of ONE STRANGE ROCK is incredibly thrilling," said Root. "We set out to make science and the world relevant to viewers, and with the creative talents of Darren and his team, we did just that - in this epic and visually stunning journey."

Season one of ONE STRANGE ROCK explored how the particularities of Earth's unique history made it ideally suited as a cradle for life and demonstrated how the planet's biological, chemical and physical systems form an interdependent equilibrium, sustaining all the wonders of the living world we know.

The series explored some of the questions many of us take for granted: Why is Earth the only planet (that we know) to support life? How fragile are the perfectly tuned systems that sustain this living planet? What are the greatest threats to the environment and human existence on Earth? Are we alone, and where did we come from? Is there really no place like home?

Host Will Smith ("Ali," "Pursuit of Happyness," "Men in Black I, II, III") contemplated these questions and guided viewers on a full-sensory, unprecedented exploration, bolstered by an elite group of eight astronauts who provided their unique perspectives and related personal memories of the planet seen from a distance. The astronauts guiding the journey through each episode in the premiere season were Chris Hadfield, Jeff Hoffman, Mae Jemison, Jerry Linenger, Mike Massimino, Leland Melvin, Nicole Stott and Peggy Whitson.

The second season will expand on the drive to understand what makes our planet so unique in the universe.

Nutopia and Protozoa Pictures will once again produce ONE STRANGE ROCK for National Geographic. For Nutopia, executive producers are Peter Lovering, Jane Root and Arif Nurmohamed. For Protozoa Pictures, executive producers are Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel and Scott Franklin. For National Geographic, executive producer is Matt Renner.

About National Geographic Partners LLC

National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic's media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 129 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers ... and reaching millions of people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

About Protozoa Pictures

Protozoa Pictures is Academy Award(R)-nominated director Darren Aronofsky's production company. Founded in 1996, based in Brooklyn and headed by Aronofsky, partners are Ari Handel, and Scott Franklin. The company has first-look deals with Paramount Pictures to develop films and Fox Networks Group to develop television. Credits include the critically acclaimed films "mother!," "Jackie," "Noah," "Black Swan," "The Wrestler," "The Fountain," "Requiem for a Dream" and "p." ONE STRANGE ROCK is Protozoa's first television project to be aired. Its next feature film to be released is "White Boy Rick," directed by Yann Demange, starring Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Eddie Marsan, Bruce Dern, Brian Tyree Henry and Jonathan Majors. It will be released by Sony Pictures.

About Nutopia

Nutopia is a leading television production company creating innovative, award-winning, premium content on a global scale. Founded in 2008 by Jane Root, former president of Discovery Channel US, controller of BBC2 and co-founder of Wall to Wall TV, Nutopia created the "mega doc" model, blending huge-scale history series and high-profile talent from the worlds of documentary and drama. In 2017, the company entered into a creative partnership with Academy Award(R)-nominated feature film producers Roast Beef. Nutopia has become synonymous with creating high-quality content that stands out from the crowd, working with some of the most prominent global broadcasters, including Netflix, CNN, National Geographic, the BBC, PBS and A+E Networks. Critical successes include the Emmy award-winning series "How We Got to Now," two seasons of ratings smash "Finding Jesus. Faith. Fact. Forgery," Emmy award-winning series "America the Story of Us" and "Mankind the Story of All of Us." Upcoming projects include "Civilisations" for the BBC and PBS, and "Babies" for Netflix.