First Look: Nat Geo's 'Mars' Miniseries From Ron Howard and Brian Grazer

Mandi Bierly
image

(Credit: National Geographic Channel)

At its NewFront presentation today, National Geographic Channel will reveal the cast of its global miniseries event Mars, a six-part tale of the world’s quest to colonize the red planet from executive producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. Yahoo TV has your exclusive first look at the international crew of the spacecraft Daedalus and their official bios, as well as the Mars Landing countdown clock (www.MakeMarsHome.com).

Set both in present day and the future — when the first manned mission to Mars launches in 2033 — the miniseries, premiering this November, combines scripted drama directed by Mexican filmmaker Everardo Gout (Days of Grace) and unscripted elements including interviews with experts ranging from The Martian author Andy Weir to Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Let’s meet the astronauts who, once they establish the first human settlement on Mars, will have to sustain themselves until the next scheduled landings in 2035 and 2037.

Seated, from left to right:

Amelie Durand (Clementine Poidatz): French. Flight surgeon and psychologist. Amelie is responsible for overseeing the medical and psychological well-being of the crew and future settlement.

Ben Sawyer (Ben Cotton): American. Mission commander and systems engineer, space architect. The MIT graduate was very close to his father, whose fascination with space was an inspiration for Ben. Ben is a highly trained and experienced astronaut who has flown for both NASA and private space companies in numerous capacities.

Marta Kamen (Anamaria Marinca): Russian. Exobiologist and geologist. As a young woman, Marta witnessed the Chelyabinsk meteor fall in February 2013, which inspired her interest in meteorites. Marta is responsible for geological exploration and the search for signs of life on Mars.

Standing, from left to right:

Robert Foucault (Sammi Rotibi): Nigerian. Mechanical engineer and roboticist. Robert showed exceptional intelligence from a young age, and excelled academically at a series of top-level institutions, eventually receiving a Ph.D. in robotics from Stanford.

Hana Seung (Jihae): American. Mission pilot and software engineer. Hana is a NASA-trained pilot. Hana and her twin sister, Joon, have dreamed of traveling into space since childhood, and Hana’s position as second in command on the mission to Mars is the result of a focused career.

Not Pictured:

Javier Delgado (Alberto Ammann): Mexican. Hydrologist and geochemist. Javier is responsible for developing and managing the settlement’s most basic and precious resource: water.

The miniseries also follows the Mars Mission Corporation’s control team on the ground in London. The MMC team includes:

Joon Seung (Jihae): American. Capsule communicator (CAPCOM), MMC. Jun has been a rising star on the administrative side of Mars Mission Corporation. Her success at MMC brings her into regular collaboration with IMSF.

Ed Grann (Olivier Martinez): American. CEO of MMC. Ed has committed MMC and himself to a settlement on Mars. Ed holds an engineering degree from MIT, and is the business leader for MMC and the inspiration for the IMSF collaboration. Ed is responsible for keeping the economic and scientific goals on track.

Leslie Richardson (Cosima Shaw): British. Geneticist, administrator and leader of MMC’s Phase 3 settlement team. Leslie and her husband, John, have published numerous books together and are well-known for the development of Mars-specific hybrid plants, designed to thrive in the rigors of the Red Planet.

Dr. Paul Richardson (John Light): British. World-renowned exobotanist. Paul has pioneered the development of a series of plant hybrids specifically engineered to function in the extreme conditions of Martian greenhouses.

Mars premieres this November on Nat Geo.