“Prehistoric Planet” opens with a promise: 66 million years back, to the Maastrichtian, and the creatures that lived there. Apple TV premiered the series on May 23, 2022. It runs three seasons and 15 episodes, the last of which aired November 26, 2025. The first two seasons are the ones that made its name.
Trailer, via Apple TV.
David Attenborough and the Late Cretaceous
The first two seasons, from 2022 to 2023, come from the BBC Studios Natural History Unit. Jon Favreau is showrunner. The Moving Picture Company built the visual effects. Sir David Attenborough narrates.
That combination is the whole argument. The series takes the nature documentary format — the one built for living animals — and points it at extinct ones. Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals are recreated with computer-generated imagery and set loose across the globe in the Late Cretaceous, just before the non-avian dinosaurs’ extinction.
The show does not pretend to certainty. It speculates from modern palaeontological research to simulate how these species behaved. That is a real constraint, and the series treats it as one.
Tom Hiddleston and the Ice Age Season
The third season is a different animal. Titled “Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age,” it shifts to Pleistocene megafauna. Tom Hiddleston takes over narration from Attenborough. It released in 2025.
That is a harder sell than it sounds. The Cretaceous has the marquee names. The Pleistocene has mammoths and a narrator swap, and the swap is the kind of move that usually signals a show running out of road.
Here is the running order of the series as it stands:
| Season | Title | Narrator | Released |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prehistoric Planet | David Attenborough | 2022 |
| 2 | Prehistoric Planet | David Attenborough | 2023 |
| 3 | Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age | Tom Hiddleston | 2025 |
Three seasons, 15 episodes, one format held steady across all of them.
Hans Zimmer and the Score
Hans Zimmer, Kara Talve and Anže Rozman composed the soundtrack. That is a serious bench for a documentary, and it tells you what Apple TV thought it was buying.
The context matters too. “Prehistoric Planet” is the highest-profile dinosaur-focused documentary series the BBC has produced since “Planet Dinosaur” in 2011. Its nature documentary-styled format is similar to “Walking with Dinosaurs” (1999). Both comparisons are flattering, and both are fair.
The series drew critical acclaim for its visual effects, its depiction of dinosaurs, and Attenborough’s narration. The published critical score sits at 8.5/10, with Metacritic at 85/100.
The reasons to rank it here, in order of how much they carry:
- The visual effects, which do the heaviest lifting and never look like a compromise.
- Attenborough’s narration, which sells speculation as observation without overselling it.
- The palaeontological grounding, which keeps the speculation honest.
- The Zimmer-led score, which is good but is not why anyone watches.
What Holds Up and What Doesn’t
The first two seasons are the achievement. Favreau and the Natural History Unit found the one register that works for animals no camera ever filmed: treat them like wildlife, not like monsters, and let the research carry the drama. Attenborough’s voice is the proof. He narrates a hunt he cannot have seen, and it lands, because the show never winks at you about the gap.
The third season is the open question. Hiddleston is a fine narrator, and the Pleistocene is not a downgrade in subject. But “Ice Age” is a different show wearing the same title, and the series has not yet shown it can hold the same standard without Attenborough. That is not a knock on Hiddleston. It is a statement about how much of the original’s authority rested on one voice.
The 8.5/10 is the right number, and it belongs to the first two seasons. Score: 8.5 of 10.
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