Barack Obama is adding another interesting stop on his post-presidential journey. According to Deadline, he will serve as the narrator for the upcoming Netflix docuseries Our Great National Parks. The five-part doc, set to premiere on April 13, travels to some of the most beautiful national parks around the world.
Per the official synopsis: “Spanning five continents, the series brims with wonder, humor, and optimism as each episode tells the story of a national park through the lives of its wildest residents—both big and exceptionally small—and explores our changing relationship with wilderness.”
“The waters of Monterey Bay, Calif., to Kenya’s Tsavo National Park, Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park, and Chilean Patagonia” are among the sites visited in the series. Our Great National Parks is executive produced by Obama’s Higher Ground Productions alongside James Honeyborne (Blue Planet II). The Wildlife Conservation Society and Count Us will also launch a nature protection campaign in conjunction with the series.
A wildlife documentary narrated by Barack Obama? It’s like someone was reading my dad’s dream journal. Seriously though, if you’ve ever wondered who watches all those BBC America nature shows, the answer is dads. They watch them, take note of every obscure fact about every animal, then save them to talk about during long car rides.
As we previously reported at The Root, Netflix recently acquired the rights to the documentary Descendant, which will be presented by Higher Ground. Following the discovery of the Clotilda, the last known slave ship, and its descendants, the film won U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Creative Vision at the Sundance Film Festival.
Rounding out its recent projects, Higher Ground also announced animated video series We the People. Executive produced by Kenya Barris and created by Chris Nee (Doc McStuffins), the three minute shorts feature original songs from top artists teaching US civics.
From its Oscar-winning documentary American Factory; to the Oscar-nominated Crip Camp; to Our Great National Parks; to the upcoming Rustin, starring Colman Domingo as civil rights leader Bayard Rustin; to children’s series Ada Twist, Scientist; Higher Ground has one of the most wide-ranging and interesting slate of projects.
Our Great National Parks, featuring President Barack Obama, premieres April 13 on Netflix.