Topline
Former President Barack Obama will lend his distinctive voice to narrate an upcoming Netflix series that will examine protected nature and wildlife spaces all over the world, the streaming giant announced Tuesday.
Former President of the United States Barack Obama, watches a game between the North Carolina Tar … [+] Heels and the Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 20, 2019, in Durham, North Carolina. Which team he was rooting for?
Getty Images
Key Facts
Our Great National Parks will be a five-part documentary series focusing on the world’s leading national parks on five continents and the species that call them home, with scenes shot from Tsavo National Park in Kenya to Monterey Bay, California, according to Netflix.
Obama will narrate all five episodes, which will premiere in April, and a trailer released Tuesday shows him walking barefoot on a beach and introducing the series.
The former president is also listed as an executive producer of the project, as part of his and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions’ multiyear deal with Netflix.
Our Great National Parks is intended to be a call for conservation, Netflix said. “These wonders deserve to be preserved, and one of the best ways to prove that is to show audiences what these wonders look like when they thrive,” the streamer said in a release.
Tangent
Environmental conservation was a high priority for Obama during his time in office. As president he established and expanded protections for upwards of 50 million acres of public lands and waters, more than any of his predecessors, Netflix noted in a release.
Key Background
This is Obama’s latest Netflix project since he and former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions signed a multiyear production deal with Netflix in 2018. Since then, the two have worked on series like the Oscar-winning documentary American Factory, and the critically acclaimed Crip Camp. In 2020, Michelle starred in an intimate documentary about her life entitled Becoming, after her memoir, and last year launched a children’s show called Waffles + Mochi about cooking and eating nutritious meals. In 2019, the Obamas’ Higher Ground also signed a deal with Spotify, and Obama took part in a podcast with singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen last year.
Further Reading
The Obamas’ Next Netflix Project: A Documentary Starring Michelle (Forbes)
Michelle Obama Announces New Netflix Children’s Show Focused On Healthy Eating (Forbes)
Obama Broke A Friend’s Nose For Calling Him A Racist Slur, He Tells Springsteen (Forbes)
