Ellen DeGeneres Sets ‘Saving the Gorillas’ Special to Stream on Discovery+ and Max
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Ellen DeGeneres has a new adventure on the horizon.
The TV icon has set a new two-hour special, Saving the Gorillas: Ellen’s Next Adventure, that will premiere on Sept. 23 on streaming services Discovery+ and Max. In addition to streaming those platforms, the special will have an encore presentation on Sept. 24 in honor of World Gorilla Day. The doc project follows her as she fulfills a dream of protecting the legacy of primatologist Dian Fossey in building the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Rwanda.
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As previously reported, the campus opened in early 2022, located outside Volcanoes National Park. The multi-acre, eco-friendly spread was designed to provide the Fossey Fund with a space that helps amplify its mission of protecting and studying gorillas, training the next generation of conservationists and building the conservation capacity of local communities.
“Every single thing has led me to just have a big enough platform to say, ‘Look at work Dian Fossey did,'” explains DeGeneres in the special. “There’s nothing that keeps you more present, more in the moment, than sitting with gorillas.”
Since opening in February 2022, the campus has hosted more than 40,000 visitors, with roughly half coming from Rwanda and the rest from countries around the world. More than 7,500 local school children have participated in field trips to the campus to learn about the biodiversity and get hands-on experience in nature.
For Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, Saving the Gorillas: Ellen’s Next Adventure is executive produced by Christopher Collins, Lydia Tenaglia and Craig H. Shepherd for Zero Point Zero Production along with DeGeneres and Jeff Kleeman for A Very Good Production. Abigail Harper directed the special.
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