National Geographic Orders Second Season of Hit Anthology Series GENIUS

National Geographic announced today at the network's FURTHER Front presentation the official greenlight of a second season of the scripted anthology series GENIUS, which tells the untold stories of the world's most brilliant innovators. Season two will chronicle the life of another renowned mastermind and tell the untold narrative of the person behind the genius. The identity of this virtuoso will be revealed during the season one finale of Genius on June 20.

"We are thrilled to bring back Genius for a second season and establish National Geographic's presence in scripted television. The Genius franchise has proved to be the epitome of the premium, smart and highly entertaining content that our brand embodies and our audience craves," said CEO of National Geographic Global Networks Courteney Monroe.

"Season one of Genius tells the fascinating backstory of the influential physicist Albert Einstein, and we are excited to delve into the life of another brilliant icon in season two, continuing our successful partnership with National Geographic and FOX 21 Television Studios," said executive producer Ron Howard. "But we also love a little mystery, so the world will have to wait until our season one finale on June 20 to see our big unveil of the season two genius."

"Our friends at Nat Geo have been spectacular partners, and we're excited to continue to continue THE JOURNEY with them next season," commented Bert Salke. "Ron, Brian and Ken are master storytellers who have outdone themselves on this first installment, and considering the stellar work of our cast led by Geoffrey, Johnny and Emily, the bar for the franchise has been set incredibly high. But it is also so rich with possibilities, but we can wait to get to work identifying and profiling our next genius."

Season two will again hail from FOX 21 Television Studios, whose recent "The People v. O.J. Simpson: AMERICAN CRIME Story" dominated every awards CONTEST and critics' list; Imagine Television and executive producers Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, the team behind "24" and "Friday Night Lights"; OddLot Entertainment and executive producer Gigi Pritztger, which earlier this year produced the Academy Award-nominated film "Hell or High Water"; and show runner and executive producer Ken Biller.

Premiering Tuesday, April 25, at 9/8c, the first season of GENIUS - based on Walter Isaacson's book "Einstein: His Life and Universe" - reveals how Albert became Einstein, exploring his extraordinary professional achievements along with his volatile, passionate and complex personal relationships. Featuring Einstein's lovers, enemies and fellow scientific luminaries, the all-star cast includes Geoffrey Rush ("The King's Speech," "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Shine") as the celebrated titular scientist, Johnny Flynn ("Clouds of Sils Maria," "Song One," "Lovesick") as Einstein in the years before he rose to international acclaim and Emily Watson ("The Theory of Everything," "The Book Thief") as his second wife - and first cousin - Elsa Einstein.

Genius is produced by FOX 21 Television Studios, Imagine Television and OddLot Entertainment. For more information, visit www.natgeotv.com.

Image courtesy of National Geographic

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