Ryan Reynolds is a proven winner, as is his soccer team Wrexham A.F.C. (ever since he and Rob McElhenney bought the club). Reynolds’ new National Geographic show, however, celebrates nothing but the Earth’s biggest losers.
Underdogs, a five-episode series narrated and executive produced by Reynolds, showcases animals on the very base level of the food chain, the kind with “bizarre mating strategies, surprising superpowers, deception, dubious parenting skills and gross-out behaviors,” per Nat Geo. This will be stuff you’ve never seen before — on Nat Geo or elsewhere — like a cave in New Zealand that “glows brighter than a bachelor pad under a black light thanks to the glowing butts of millions of mucus-coated grubs.”
Harry Gregson-Williams composed the show’s music — that’s nice. But somehow, Reynolds got Green Day to write and record the show’s theme song. Naturally, it rocks.
“Getting to work with National Geographic on Underdogs was a dream come true — mostly because I can finally watch a project of ours with my children. Technically, they saw Deadpool & Wolverine, but I don’t think they absorbed much while covering their eyes and ears and screaming for two hours,” Reynolds said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re so proud to elevate the unsung heroes of the natural world to the top of the entertainment food chain and can’t wait for everyone to see.”
Deadpool & Wolverine is a Marvel movie, owned by Disney, just like Nat Geo.
“For over 137 years, National Geographic has led the way in natural history storytelling. With Underdogs, we’re unleashing a whole new breed of natural history — one that’s bold, irreverent and wildly entertaining,” Nat Geo president Courteney Monroe said. “By pairing Ryan Reynolds and his award-winning team at Maximum Effort with world-class natural history filmmakers at Wildstar, we’re flipping the traditional wildlife documentary on its head and inviting audiences to see the animal kingdom in a totally unexpected and hilarious way.”
Underdogs premieres June 15 on Nat Geo; it will be simulcast on ABC (also owned by Disney), and made available to stream the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
Watch the trailer, featuring the Green Day song, here:
Underdogs is produced by Wildstar, a Fremantle company, in partnership with Maximum Effort for National Geographic. For Wildstar, Mark Linfield, Vanessa Berlowitz and Dan Rees are executive producers. For Maximum Effort, Ryan Reynolds, George Dewey, Ashley Fox and Patrick Gooing are executive producers; Sophia Travaglia and Molly Milstein are producers. Polly Billam serves as co-series producer and writer.
For National Geographic, Tracy Rudolph Jackson is the executive producer; Janet Han Vissering is senior vp, production; Charlie Parsons is the senior vp, development; Bengt Anderson is the executive producer and senior vp, unscripted production; and Tom McDonald is the executive vp, global factual and unscripted content.
Basically, it’s an entire animal kingdom of producers.
Underdogs
Here are the episode descriptions, all in Nat Geo’s own words:
“Superzeroes” Premieres June 15 at 9/8c on National Geographic
Ryan Reynolds assembles a team of ‘Superzeroes’, apparently-pathetic animals with unexpectedly awesome superpowers. Forget about the cheetah’s speed, the eagle’s eyesight or the elephant’s brute strength, and say hello to the invisible glass frog, the indestructible honey badger and the pistol shrimp who can fire bubbles that are as hot as the surface of the sun.
“Terrible Parents” premieres June 15 at 9:54/8:54c on National Geographic
Ryan Reynolds reveals some highly questionable parenting strategies from the animal kingdom’s worst parents, the underdogs. From a goose who lays their eggs on the top of a cliff to a koala that feeds its baby poop, it’s uncertain if they are bad parents or just misunderstood. But no matter how bad you think you may be at parenting; you can’t be as bad as these guys.
“Sexy Beasts” Premieres June 22 at 9/8c on National Geographic
Forget the birds and the bees, Ryan reveals the steps to finding ‘the one’, Underdog-style. From ‘first attraction’ in giant-nosed proboscis monkeys to the importance of wingmen in turkey courtship to foreplay in flying foxes, these guys have re-written the rule book on messy and complicated relationships.
“The Unusual Suspects” premieres June 22 at 9:53/8:53
Ryan Reynolds puts the spotlight on the underdogs who get ahead by sneaky tactics. From the master-of-disguise frogfish to a butt-biting jackal and a multi headed caterpillar playing the decoy, these are the masters of deception and deceit. And bringing all these hustlers together is the greatest con artist of them all – a cunning macaque who feeds on the spoils from unsuspecting tourists.
“Total Grossout” Premieres June 29 at 9/8c on National Geographic
Ryan gives his unique take on the animals who use gross-out tactics to achieve their goals, from defending their home to finding a mate, and win at the game of life. His cast includes manatees who use flatulence to control their buoyancy and cave dwelling fungus gnats that create beautiful, illuminated fly-traps from the mucus lit by their bioluminescent butts.
