# The Dark Wizard (2026)

> An unflinching documentary portrait of the climber and base jumper Dean Potter, whose record-setting feats are shadowed by his inner struggles.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/1105135

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 4
- Episode runtime: 58 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: documentary
- Network: HBO
- Cast: Dean Potter, Dean Fidelman, Timmy O'Neill, Jim Hurst, Eric Perlman, Cedar Wright, Dan Duane, Alex Honnold
- TMDB rating: 8.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt39656291/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: intimate, unflinching, awe-struck, melancholic, tense

## Synopsis

The Dark Wizard (2026) is a American documentary miniseries produced by Sender Films for HBO. Its subject is Dean Potter, the climber, base jumper and highline walker whose feats drew wide attention and controversy. Across four episodes of roughly an hour each, the docuseries follows him through record-setting climbs and jumps in Yosemite and beyond, while the interviews with fellow climbers and partners, including Alex Honnold, Timmy O'Neill, Dean Fidelman and Leo Houlding, weave in the battles with his inner demons. The engine is the tension between audacious physical achievement and the personal cost behind it, shown through archive footage and present-day testimony. Each episode builds toward the next feat while probing what drives someone to chase limits that others would never approach. The tone is intimate, unflinching and awe-struck, with a melancholic undercurrent. Fans of Free Solo and The Dawn Wall will find resonance in its close look at climbing obsession, danger and human fragility. It is a single-season limited series.

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