When Does Planet Earth II Season 2 Come Out? Is It Renewed?

What is Planet Earth II about?

Planet Earth II is a straightforward thing: six episodes of David Attenborough narrating footage of animals surviving in extreme habitats. The appeal is almost embarrassingly simple. You watch it to see a snow leopard hunt in the Himalayas, or a troop of monkeys raid a city for food, or a marine iguana dive into volcanic waters. If you care at all about the natural world, or just want to see something beautiful on your screen, this is why you watch.

What distinguishes it from previous nature documentaries is technological reach. The cameras go places and capture moments that would have been impossible ten years earlier. A dragon-like creature glides from tree to tree in slow motion. Footage follows a penguin chick on a journey that feels genuinely dangerous. The production values are so high that watching becomes almost meditative, the way staring at an aquarium can be. Attenborough's voice grounds everything without sentiment or false drama, which matters more than you'd think when other documentaries of this type tend toward breathless narration.

The show landed well with critics and audiences alike, though the praise was straightforward rather than effusive. An IMDb score above 9.4 reflects the broad appeal and technical ambition. It's the kind of thing people recommend simply because it's good, not because it's controversial or makes a big argument about anything.

There's no obvious context for it among nature documentaries because there's little competition at this level of production. It exists in that rare space where it's genuinely useful television, the kind you can put on knowing it will hold attention without demanding anything from you. The only real limitation is its scope: six episodes ends quickly, leaving you wanting more immediately after finishing.

Is Planet Earth II renewed or cancelled?

Why did Planet Earth II end?

Planet Earth II was never designed to run beyond its six-episode arc. The series was conceived as a complete, self-contained documentary project rather than an ongoing serial. Each episode explored a different biome, from islands to mountains to jungles, and the filmmakers had mapped out a finite story they wanted to tell about how animals adapt to life on Earth. Once those narratives were filmed and broadcast over the course of six weeks in late 2016, the project had accomplished what it set out to do.

The BBC's natural history documentaries operate differently from scripted drama series. David Attenborough's Planet Earth II was always a production that required years of location shooting, vast crews, and enormous budgets to capture rare animal behavior in the wild. These aren't shows that churn out episodes annually. The production model demands long gaps between seasons for filming and post-production work. With the first series complete and critically acclaimed, there was no pressing economic reason to rush into a second run, and the creative team appears not to have committed to one.

That said, Planet Earth II's success and the appetite for similar BBC nature programming meant the door wasn't entirely closed. The franchise eventually continued, though not as Planet Earth III until 2023. The original six-episode run ended because it was finished, not because it failed.

Planet Earth II Season 2 Release Date

Best & worst episodes

Planet Earth II seasons

Planet Earth II trailer

Where to watch Planet Earth II

HBO Max Amazon ChannelstreamDiscovery+ Amazon ChannelstreamYouTube TVstreamPhilostreamHBO MaxstreamDiscovery +streamPlanet Earth Amazon ChannelstreamAmazon VideobuyGoogle Play MoviesbuyFandango At Homebuy

Planet Earth II latest news