TORONTO – National Geographic’s first scripted series will chronicle the extraordinary life of Albert Einstein, and will debut April 25 during the channel’s four week Canadian free preview.
The new 10-part global event series, Genius, reveals how Albert became Einstein, exploring his professional achievements along with his volatile, passionate, and complex personal relationships. Genius premieres globally in April on National Geographic in 171 countries and 45 languages.
Executive produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, and Gigi Pritzker, Genius features Geoffrey Rush (Shine), pictured, as the celebrated scientist, Johnny Flynn (Clouds of Sils Maria) as Albert in the years before he rose to international acclaim, and Emily Watson (The Theory of Everything) as his second wife and first cousin, Elsa. It also stars Samantha Colley (The Crucible), T.R. Knight (The Good Wife, Grey’s Anatomy), Seth Gabel (Salem), and Vincent Kartheiser (Mad Men).
The series chronicles Einstein’s rise from humble origins as an imaginative, rebellious thinker, through his struggles to be recognized by the establishment, to his global celebrity status as the person who unlocked the mysteries of the cosmos with his theory of relativity. Delving deeper, the series follows Einstein’s callous emotions with his closest personal relationships, including his children, his two wives, and the various women with whom he has extra-marital affairs.
Genius premieres April 25 at 9:00 PM ET/PT. National Geographic is available on a national free preview from April 15 – May 15, 2017.
