EONS: LIFE AND DEATH ON PANGEA Explores Earth’s Greatest Extinction Event

EONS: LIFE AND DEATH ON PANGEA, a new six-episode series from PBS Digital Studios and Complexly, explores the “Great Dying,” the most catastrophic mass extinction in our planet’s history, when more than 80 percent of Earth’s species vanished. The series premieres Wednesday, July 29 on the PBS App, PBS.org, the EONS YouTube channel, and PBS stations (check local listings). The series marks a major expansion into longform storytelling for EONS, one of PBS Digital Studios’ most popular and longest-running YouTube channels with more than 750 million views to date.

Set during the Permian Period, hundreds of millions of years ago, EONS: LIFE AND DEATH ON PANGEA transports viewers to a world shaped by the supercontinent Pangea, extreme climate shifts, and ecosystems unlike anything seen today. From mega-monsoons and vast deserts to giant terrestrial animals, bizarre marine life, and massive volcanic eruptions, the series traces how Earth reached the brink of ecological collapse, and how life ultimately recovered. The “Great Dying” remains one of the most dramatic examples of how environmental change can reshape life on Earth

Eons: Life and Death on Pangea: Premieres July 29

Hosted by science communicators and paleontology experts Michelle Barboza-Ramirez, Blake de Pastino, Kallie Moore, and Gabriel-Philip Santos, the series blends field exploration, expert insight, and compelling storytelling to make complex science accessible to a broad audience. Bringing diverse perspectives and expertise, the hosts guide viewers through Earth’s deep past in ways that are both engaging and easy to understand while still preserving the depth that has helped EONS cultivate such a dedicated audience on YouTube.

True to the EONS brand, the series features striking animations and dynamic on-screen graphics that vividly bring prehistoric life to the screen. Developed in collaboration with scholars, paleo artists, and motion designers, the series introduces new, scientifically informed depictions of Permian flora and fauna, offering audiences a captivating glimpse into an unfamiliar world.

Over nearly a decade, EONS has built a global audience of deep time fans, amassing more than 757 million video views across YouTube and the PBS app, with 3.17 million YouTube subscribers and more than 1.1 million podcast downloads. EONS: LIFE AND DEATH ON PANGEA expands this trusted digital brand into an ambitious longform series for PBS audiences. This expansion also represents a new generation of PBS series that blends the worlds of creator-driven formats with the documentary storytelling PBS is known for.

“From our start as a YouTube-native educational studio, we’ve wanted to create free, high-quality stuff to inspire curiosity in our audience,” said Julie Walsh Smith, CEO of Complexly, the non-profit media studio that produces EONS for PBS. “It’s a huge validation of the good work done by the EONS team that this exciting show can be seen on television across the country!”

“The EONS team was thrilled to get out of the studio and go to places where the Permian Period can still be witnessed up close,” said Seth Radley, Executive Producer of EONS. “It’s an honor to work with PBS to tell the story of this pivotal moment in Earth’s history.”

“We have seen tremendous success with longform spinoffs of PBS Digital Studios series on the PBS app and across PBS stations. These creators are helping to build a new generation of PBS fans,” said Adam Dylewski, Senior Director of Multiplatform Programming at PBS. “EONS has spent years bringing the deep history of life on Earth to a passionate audience. With EONS: LIFE AND DEATH ON PANGEA, we’re giving that audience a sweeping, more immersive way to experience this remarkable chapter of Earth’s story as told by one of our most beloved digital series.”

Episode descriptions and premiere dates:

Episode 1: How The Formation of Pangea Changed the World
Premieres July 29 on PBS App, PBS.org and Eons YouTube channel
In the Late Carboniferous Period, predatory amphibians and giant arthropods ruled the swamps. But ancient seed plants and amniotes were evolving adaptations to drier climates. These will help them thrive on Pangea in the Permian Period to come.

Episode 2: How Eating Plants Shaped Life on Land
Premieres July 29 on PBS App andPBS.org The first herbivorous vertebrates evolve on the side of the amniote family tree leading to mammals. Alongside them come apex predators, like Dimetrodon. But the Early Permian Period ends in a mystery: is it an extinction event or just a fossil gap?

Episode 3: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Reef
Premieres Aug. 5 on PBS App and PBS.org
Life in the Middle Permian Period flourished. Gigantic reef complexes stretched for hundreds of kilometers in what’s now the Texas desert, while strange mammal-relatives and huge reptiles thrived on land. But this epoch ends in a crushing extinction.

Episode 4: A Tale of Tusks and Saber Teeth
Premieres Aug. 12 on PBS App and PBS.org
In the Late Permian Period, increasingly mammal-like traits were gradually emerging in our ancient relatives. The first saber-teeth and tusks evolved, and our ancestors, the cynodonts, appeared. And this all happened before the time of the dinosaurs.

Episode 5: That Time Almost Everything Died
Premieres Aug. 19 on PBS App and PBS.org
The Permian Period ended with the biggest mass extinction of all time; more than 80% of species vanished. It altered the course of evolution in ways that we can still feel, 252 million years later. And it was caused by a rapidly changing climate.

Episode 6: Who Survived the Great Dying (and Why)
Premieres Aug. 26 on PBS App and PBS.org
Around 250 million years ago, at the dawn of the Triassic Period, life on Earth was devastated. Eventually, the survivors of the Permian would be replaced by new ecosystems unlike anything the world had ever seen. The age of reptiles was beginning.

EONS: LIFE AND DEATH ON PANGEA will be available to stream starting Wednesday, July 29, on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS app, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast, and VIZIO. The series will also be available on the EONS YouTube channel and select PBS stations (check local listings).

EONS: LIFE AND DEATH ON PANGEA is produced for PBS by Complexly. Executive producer is Seth Radley and series producer/director is Brandon Brungard. Executives in charge for PBS are Adam Dylewski and Maribel Lopez.

Funding for EONS: LIFE AND DEATH ON PANGEA was provided in part by a grant from the Anne Ray Foundation, a Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropy"

About PBS Digital Studios
PBS Digital Studios produces original programming for YouTube and other digital platforms designed to engage, enlighten, and entertain online audiences. The PBS Digital Studios network has more than 30 million subscribers on YouTube, generating an average of 50 million views a month, and has acquired more than five billion lifetime views. Currently, PBS Digital Studios has over a dozen active series, including the Webby Award-winning BE SMART and CRASH COURSE, as well as popular series like TWO CENTS, EONS and PBS SPACE TIME.

About Complexly
Complexly is a nonprofit educational media producer founded in 2012 by celebrated authors and internet creators, John Green and Hank Green. With its mission to create trustworthy stuff that inspires curiosity and lowers barriers to knowledge building, Complexly has been a pioneer in using online video to engage students, teachers and lifelong learners on a global scale. With over 32 million YouTube subscribers and over 5 billion views, Complexly is one of the world’s largest and most prolific educational producers. One of Complexly’s flagship channels Crash Course has published over 1,500 engaging videos on subjects like World History, Literature, Chemistry, Psychology, and Philosophy, and partnered with PBS, National Science Foundation, and Google. SciShow publishes several videos per week that delve into both timeless and timely scientific subjects that defy our expectations and deepen our curiosity and has partnered with Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. PBS EONS explores the history of life on Earth, from the dawn of life in the Archaean Eon to the end of the most recent Ice Age. These projects and several more make up the community of curious minds that is Complexly. We are a group of people who believe that curiosity builds understanding, and understanding builds a better world.

About PBS
PBS, with more than 330 member stations, offers all Americans the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and digital content. Each month, PBS reaches over 36 million adults on linear primetime television, 16 million users on PBS-owned streaming platforms, 56 million viewers on YouTube, and 10 million followers on social media, inviting them to experience the worlds of science, history, nature, and public affairs and to take front-row seats to world-class drama and performances. PBS’s broad array of programs has been consistently honored by the industry’s most coveted award competitions. As the number one educational media brand, PBS KIDS helps children 2-8 build critical skills, enabling them to find success in school and life. Delivered through member stations, PBS KIDS offers high-quality content on TV — including a PBS KIDS channel — and streaming free on  pbskids.org and the PBS KIDS Video app, games on the PBS KIDS Games app, and in communities across America. Teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to PBS LearningMedia for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. More information about PBS is available at PBS.org, one of the leading dot-org websites on the internet,  Facebook, Instagram, or through our  apps for mobile and connected devices. Specific program information and updates for press are available at  pbs.org/pressroom  or by following PBS Communications on X.