If you're like me, you saw the Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age trailer and jumped for joy. Then you checked its IMDb page and saw there was no sign of David Attenborough's involvement, and your heart sank.
Since the Apple TV+ CGI documentary series began in 2022, the British nature king has been its voice-over artist. By the second season, Attenborough was even presenting the behind-the-scenes footage for each episode. Surely, this could only mean the almost-centenarian was having a health issue, as is often the case on social media.
Stars: David Attenborough, Tom Hiddleston, Heïdi Sevestre
But then I did some digging and realized that couldn't be the case. The day before I had the chance to speak with executive producer Mike Gunton, BBC iPlayer launched Kingdom, a new nature series featuring the voice of (you guessed it) Attenborough.
"It's a new series. We've done two with David, and this is a completely new chapter," Gunton tells me. "We thought it would be an interesting idea to take a different approach." Tom, of course, is a well-known wildlife storyteller at Apple, so it seemed like a good opportunity.
It was a wonderful experience working with him. He's enthusiastic. He has a young son who's obsessed with these creatures. Tom had seen the series before, and apparently, his son was fascinated by it. So it seemed like the right time to change perspectives.
On the surface, it's an absolutely fair decision. We can't keep asking a national treasure that's almost a century old to continue delivering the high-quality nature documentaries we've come to expect. If I had to cut anything, it would be the Ice Age and Jurassic creatures that don't actually exist.
However, Hiddleston isn't the ideal candidate for me. Attenborough has a huge challenge ahead, and anyone other than him automatically faces intense scrutiny. As much as I love it, Hiddleston's voice doesn't quite fit, but it probably doesn't help that the Ice Age animal world is so similar to our own (i.e., a bit duller than usual).
Both of these reasons make me recommend rewatching seasons 1 and 2 of Prehistoric Planet, but Ice Age isn't a bad time... it's just less... Attenborough-esque.
Jasmine is a streaming writer for TechRadar, and has previously written for outlets including Radio Times, Yahoo!, and Stylist. She specializes in comfort-inspiring TV shows and movies, from the latest sentimental Hallmark film to Netflix's Virgin River. She also wrote George Cooper Sr.'s obituary during Young Sheldon's seventh season and still can't watch the funeral episode.
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