The Going Wild podcast is returning for a new season that takes listeners out of the studio and into the wilderness, with wildlife biologist Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant leading expeditions into some of the country's most challenging natural environments. The PBS NATURE production will premiere on October 27, 2026, according to an announcement from the program.
The new season will bring audiences closer to the people, animals, sounds, and stories that make wild spaces worth protecting, the announcement said. Production teams will enter bear dens in Arkansas, dive to slave shipwrecks in the Florida Keys, and wade through murky swamps, placing the podcast's reporting directly inside the habitats it covers rather than in a studio setting.
Going Wild is hosted by Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, a wildlife biologist who studies wild animals in their natural habitats across remote jungles, savannas, tundras, mountains, and deserts. The podcast, described as multi-award-winning and NAACP-nominated, follows Wynn-Grant and her teams as they spend years studying animals in order to protect their futures. The program aims to take listeners inside the hidden worlds of these species and into the action-packed adventures of the conservationists who track them.
The shift from studio production to field recording reflects the podcast's core premise: conservation work happens in the field, often over long periods, and involves direct contact with animals and ecosystems. By entering bear dens and diving to shipwrecks, the new season appears designed to capture the physical realities of wildlife research and the historical layers embedded in natural landscapes.
The Florida Keys shipwreck dives connect the season to maritime history, while the Arkansas bear den visits and swamp excursions focus on species and habitats that are often difficult to access. The announcement did not provide further details on the specific animals or researchers featured in each episode.
Going Wild is produced by PBS NATURE, an award-winning series created by The WNET Group. The podcast's return adds to a growing field of science and nature programming that seeks to reach audiences through immersive storytelling, combining conservation science with first-person reporting from remote locations.
The new season is scheduled to premiere on October 27, 2026. Listeners can expect the same focus on wildlife biology and conservation that has defined the podcast, now with a stronger emphasis on the sounds and conditions of the wild places where that work takes place.
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