# Life After People: The Series (2009)

> Experts speculate on how Earth would change over centuries and millennia if humanity vanished overnight.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/17041

## Facts

- Seasons: 3
- Episodes: 28
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: documentary
- Created by: David De Vries
- Network: History
- Cast: James Lurie, Hakeem Muata Oluseyi, Don Wildman, Andrew Patrick Nelson, Dan Riskin
- TMDB rating: 7.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1433058/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: none
- Tone: contemplative, wistful, eerie, measured, awe-inspiring

## What critics say

Audiences rate the series positively for its speculative, science-driven depiction of how Earth would change after humans vanish.

## Synopsis

Life After People: The Series (2009-2025) is an American science documentary docuseries created by David De Vries for History. Narrated by James Lurie, it imagines what would happen to Earth if humanity vanished in an instant. Astrophysicist Hakeem Muata Oluseyi, evolutionary biologist Dan Riskin, historian Andrew Patrick Nelson and host Don Wildman appear as the recurring experts, tracing how skyscrapers, highways, power grids and farmland would crumble and be overtaken by forests, floods and wildlife over decades and millennia. Each episode follows a single system or landmark through its slow decline, with expert analysis guiding every step. Across three seasons and twenty-eight episodes, the tone stays contemplative and wistful, with an eerie undercurrent of a city silenced and its traces slowly erased. The engine is curiosity about what endures and what vanishes, which makes it a natural pick for viewers who enjoy Planet Earth, Cosmos and Our Planet. Set on an emptied, hypothetical future Earth, it is a thoughtful, unhurried look at environmental resilience and the fragility of human civilization.

## Shows like Life After People: The Series

- [Nature's Great Events (2009)](https://ember.film/tv/18234)
- [Life on Our Planet (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/134573)
- [Earthstorm (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/133229)
- [Our Planet (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/71512)
- [Human Planet (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/29516)
- [Human (2025)](https://ember.film/tv/200329)
- [Nature (1982)](https://ember.film/tv/13940)
- [The Colony (2009)](https://ember.film/tv/19972)
- [The Universe (2007)](https://ember.film/tv/2491)
- [The Living Planet (1984)](https://ember.film/tv/8856)

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