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Humanity Finally Travels to Mars in Ron Howard's New Half-Scifi, Half-Documentary TV Series

This November, the National Geographic Channel will take audiences into outer space in a way we haven’t seen before. From producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer comes Mars, a six-part TV miniseries that blends documentary and science fiction to dramatize humankind’s first trip to Mars in 2033—and io9 is proud to exclusively debut the first trailer.

National Geographic's MARS Trailer: A Six Part TV Event

Half of the show is more traditional drama, with sequences directed by Everardo Gout with plenty of input from Nasa, SpaceX, and others. The aim was to show viewers the closest thing possible to what an actual trip to Mars in 2033 could look like, in a very dramatic way.

Those stories are then juxtaposed with a present-day documentary about the possibility, and importance, of a trip to Mars. That’s where you get interviews with Elon Musk, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, The Martian author Andy Weir, and a slew of other experts on space exploration, Mars, and more.

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“Brian [Grazer] and I, along with the [team] at Radical [Media], had this ambitious idea, which was to create a documentary about the quest to go to Mars but also bring it to life in a really dramatic and cinematic way,” said Howard. “The offer to the audience will be information meets vivid and experiential filmmaking. Nat Geo’s ambition was high, and we are really honored and thrilled to try and meet that challenge.”

And what’s even cooler about this show is it’s going to have a global premiere. The show is going to premiere in 171 countries and 45 languages over the course of November. The filmmakers felt a story with such a worldwide scope should be shared with the world.