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Season 1 – Henry David Thoreau

Play trailer Season 1 – Henry David Thoreau Premieres Mar 30 Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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Examining the life and work of 19th century writer Henry David Thoreau.

Critics Reviews

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John Anderson Wall Street Journal 2d
Providing voices are Ted Danson, Meryl Streepand, most remarkably, Jeff Goldblum, who as Thoreau abandons anything associated with standard Jeff Goldblum and creates a vocal character full of self-reflection, naïveté and awe. Thoreau would have approved. Go to Full Review Christopher Campbell Nonfics (Substack) 1d
Directed by Christopher Loren Ewers and Erik Ewers in the most listless imitation of the Burns style, [it] has its ups and downs as it balances conventional soup-to-nuts biography with a more interesting intermittent exploration of the subject’s legacy. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Cast & Crew

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George Clooney

Narrator

Erik Ewers

Director

Christopher Loren Ewers

Director

Ken Burns

Executive Producer

Don Henley

Executive Producer

Episodes

Episode 1 Airs Mar 30 Who Are We? Henry David Thoreau pursues a career as an author, retreating to a cabin in the woods to live simply and write. Details Episode 2 Airs Mar 30 Being Alive Thoreau finds solace in nature and writes two books at Walden Pond; over his two year stay, an expedition to Maine and an act of civil disobediance protesting slavery reshape his idea of freedom. Details Episode 3 Airs Mar 31 Several More Lives to Live Thoreau returns to society, taking on roles as surveyor, scientist and abolitionist, and makes two more Maine trips; Thoreau writes with renewed energy as he faces a lifelong illness. Details

Season Info

Director
Erik Ewers, Christopher Loren Ewers
Executive Producer
Ken Burns, Don Henley
Network
PBS
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date
Mar 30, 2026