PASADENA, Calif. — Natalie Portman will narrate Nat Geo’s Earth Day series Secrets of the Elephants. The series premieres April 21. James Cameron, director of Avatar: The Way of the Water, is an executive producer.

Cameron turned up at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour to discuss his Secrets of series. Next year will be Secrets of the Octopus, with Bees and Penguins to follow.

“With an over 135-year-old legacy in natural history content, we’re just as passionate about who’s telling our stories as the stories we tell,” said Courteney Monroe, content president, Nat Geo. “Whether it be our onscreen scientists in Secrets of the Elephants, our narrators like Natalie Portman, or our filmmakers like Jim Cameron, we have become a port-of-call for best in class talent who want to tell meaningful stories that inspire a deeper connection to our world. Our Secrets of franchise reinforces our commitment at National Geographic to remaining THE leader in natural history storytelling."

Cameron shared a clip of the National Geographic special Titanic: 25 Years Later with James Cameron. The special will air February 5 leading into the remastered film’s theatrical release February 10. 

“On the Avatar films, we're creating a fantasy view of nature but, thematically, underneath all that is this idea of the interconnectedness not only of nature itself but of us with nature, as inhabitants of nature,” Cameron said. “In the Secrets series we try to forge an even more intimate and emotional connection with nature — to illuminate how these amazing creatures think, how they feel, how they communicate, how they function as complex societies and cultures.” 

Cameron and Maria Wilhelm of Earthship are exec producers on the Secrets of series.

Portman’s movies include Thor: Love & Thunder, Jackie and Black Swan. ■

Disney Plus is celebrating Earth Day with the four-part series Secrets of the Whales. Premiering April 22, the series comes from National Geographic. James Cameron executive produces and Sigourney Weaver narrates. 

“Epic, revealing and emotional, that’s what you get when immersed in the secretive world of whales and see life and love from their perspectives,” goes the Disney Plus summary. The series “plunges viewers deep within the epicenter of whale culture to experience the extraordinary communication skills and intricate social structures of five different whale species: orcas, humpbacks, belugas, narwhals and sperm whales.”

National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry is behind Secrets of the Whales, which was filmed over three years in 24 locations. Skerry has a book out by the same name. Viewers learn that Belugas give themselves names and see 30,000 humpbacks using breeches to talk to each other, and a Beluga pod adopting a narwhal. 

Red Rock Films produced the series. For Red Rock, Shannon Malone-deBenedictis is executive producer. For Earthship, James Cameron and Maria Wilhelm exec produce. For National Geographic, Pamela Caragol is executive producer.  

National Geographic Channel will team with filmmaker James Cameron to produce a new documentary Search for Atlantis, said network officials.

The two-hour special, executive produced by Cameron and produced by the Toronto-based Associated Producers, will premiere this winter and will be shot on location in Sicily, Malta, Crete, Santorini and Sardinia, with underwater portions being shot off the coast of Spain, said network officials.

In 2011, both National Geographic Channel and Discovery Canada partnered with associated producers on Finding Atlantis.

“National Geographic is committed to bring the world of science, exploration and adventure to our viewers worldwide. We are excited to partner with Cameron and Jacobovici for the quest to find Atlantis, one of the magical worlds that has resonated in our collective imaginations for thousands of years,” said Tim Pastore, president of original programming and production, National Geographic Channel, in a statement.