Inspired by his popular “Star Talk” podcast, the series — which shares its title with the podcast — will feature a variety of guests both inside the science community and from various areas of pop culture.
“It’s a mixture of comedy, science, and pop culture,” explained Tyson during the Winter TV Press Tour 2015 (as reported by Deadline). “I’m the host, yet I’m the scientist! And my guests are hardly ever scientists. Our goal is to hew them from pop culture.”
Each episode of the series will feature a guest, as well as a one-minute monologue from frequent collaborator and “Science Guy” Bill Nye. Neither Tyson nor the network have revealed much about the list of potential guests other than to announce that reknowned evolutionary biologist (and outspoken atheist) Richard Dawkins is among them.
“It will be National Geographic’s very first talk show so we look forward to [seeing] how this plays out,” said Tyson.
The celebrated astronomer previously hosted Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, a modern reboot of Carl Sagan’s popular Cosmos television series that explored the science of the universe and the scientific history that’s behind our understanding of it. The series was broadcast on the Fox network and produced by Seth MacFarlane, who recently hinted that another season of the series could be possible with support from fans.
“Cosmos allowed us to share the awesome power of the universe with a global audience in ways that we never thought possible,” said Tyson in a statement accompanying the Star Talk announcement. “To be able to continue to spread wonder and excitement through Star Talk, which is a true passion project for me, is beyond exciting.”
