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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Travel
Lucy Thackray

Fresh Prince of Antarctica: Will Smith to travel pole-to-pole for new Disney+ show

Getty Images

Oscar-nominated, Grammy-winning actor Will Smith is set to trek from the South Pole to the North Pole this year, for a travel documentary that will stream on Disney+.

Pole to Pole, produced by National Geographic, will see the Men In Black and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star make the 26,000-mile trek from the South Pole to the North Pole with a team and camera crew.

According to Disney+, the team will cover all of earth’s biomes (polar ice, desert, jungle, mountain, savannah and swamp) and stop at several communities along the way, as well as capturing footage of Antarctica and the Arctic.

Smith and crew will “experience firsthand what it is like to live in some of the most amazing and extreme landscapes on the planet”, says a release from the streaming giant.

It will be filmed over 100 days, and no air date or premiere have been announced as yet.

Pole to Pole will be Smith’s third travel series for the adventure brand, following 2018’s One Strange Rock and 2021’s Welcome to Earth.

The actor this week received his first Oscar nomination in 15 years, for King Richard, the 2021 film about Serena and Venus Williams’ upbringing by their father, Richard Williams.

National Geographic also announced starry documentary projects with James Cameron, Jon Favreau and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Director Jon Favreau will helm Lion, a documentary project that follows a single pride of lions for four years, longer than ever before; while James Cameron directs wildlife documentaries Secrets of the Elephants and Secrets of the Octopus.

Cumberbatch will narrate Super/Natural, a show following “the secret powers and super-senses of the world’s most extraordinary animals.”

Meanwhile, magician David Blaine has an upcoming Disney+ documentary called Beyond Belief , where he’ll travel the world exploring cultures with a history and heritage of supposedly magical rituals or beliefs.

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