EXCLUSIVE: Following the outsize success of NBC‘s 10-part docuseries The Americas, the network has decided that the upcoming behind-the-scenes special showcasing the making of the series should also get a broadcast debut.
The Making of ‘The Americas,‘ which was initially slated strictly for streaming, will now premiere on NBC on April 20 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, pulling back the curtain on the epic and often grueling journey of filming over five years across 180 expeditions in some of the most extreme locations on Earth.
Deadline can also exclusively reveal the trailer for the upcoming special, in which narrator Tom Hanks explains some of the questions he had while working on the series that audiences can expect to be answered in The Making of ‘The Americas.‘
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“Being part of this epic show is quite an education,” he says in the trailer. “But I find the tales from behind the camera equally astonishing — the extraordinary lengths they go to to get these images in some of the most extreme places. Even after many years in the film business, I had questions.”
Watch the full trailer above.
The Americas had an impressive run on NBC, ranking as linear television’s most-watched nature doc telecast in more than 15 years, since 2009’s National Parks on PBS. It was also the top new alternative show of the 2024-25 season to date in live + seven-day viewers. Per NBCUniversal, the series has reached 23M cross-platform viewers to date.
After debuting on April 20, The Making of ‘The Americas’ will hit Peacock the next day. All 10 episodes of the original docuseries are also available to stream.
The Americas is executive produced by Planet Earth II and Dynasties exec producer Mike Gunton for BBC Studios Natural History Unit, in association with Universal Television Alternative Studio.
Each hourlong episode features a different iconic location across the Americas: “The Atlantic Coast,” “Mexico,” “TheWild West,” “The Amazon,” “The Frozen North,” “The Gulf Coast,” “The Andes,” “The Caribbean,” “The West Coast” and “Patagonia.”