J.J. Abrams wants to believe. Together with Glen Zipper, Abrams' Bad Robot are behind UFO, an upcoming four-part docu-series for Showtime that will get to the bottom of UFOs and explore "what clandestine influence the American government, lucrative private companies and the military may have in shielding the truth behind extraterrestrial phenomena to further their own agendas."
Directed by Mark Monroe (Icarus) and Paul Crowder (Riding Giants), the spark for UFO was ignited by a 2017 New York Times article that revealed that the Pentagon has been secretly tracking UFOs for years. The series will explore "unsettling theories of a subject that recently reached national headlines, and has historically been the focus of powerful politicians and CEOs, while average citizens pursuing the very same truth have been ridiculed and ostracized." Here's a poster for the upcoming series:
"The series examines the history of the phenomenon through cultural and political touchpoints, including shocking testimony from eyewitnesses across the country," reads Showtime's description. "As the conversation grows more bizarre and reaches the mainstream by virtue of credible investigations into alien encounters, UFO confronts the most enigmatic questions of all: Why do we believe what we believe? And what is the elusive truth beyond this decades long mystery?"
All four episodes of UFO will be released for Showtime subscribers on August 8, 2021, before premiering on-air at 9 p.m. that night.