Upcoming ‘NOVA’ programming on Arizona PBS

“NOVA” is a popular, primetime science series about complex scientific topics with two new specials premiering this year. Co-Executive producers Julia Cort and Chris Schmidt joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss the upcoming specials.

“Return to the Moon” is set to premiere on April 15, 2026, and “Rain Bombs” on April 22. A new podcast, “NOVA Remix,” premiered Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. “NOVA’s” 53rd season started airing in January 2026.

“It’s all about science storytelling,” Cort said. “We do ‘NOVA’ because science is such a crucial part of our lives; we rely on it so much, and ‘NOVA’ is all about helping people understand how science works, how it’s done, who is it doing it, and why, taking the audience on these amazing scientific detective stories, all the things that people are curious about.”

Schmidt emphasized their audience is entertained by these science stories of human achievement and human ingenuity.

“So when you’re following a story where you’re presented with something that immediately triggers your curiosity,” Schmidt said, “those stories just tell themselves.”

Cort and Schmidt explained the stories they are looking to highlight as a part of their “NOVA” programming are those that people are curious about but can also understand.

“We sort of have a rule,” Schmidt explained. “If you have to spend the first five minutes of the film explaining to people why they should be curious, you kind of lost them. You want to start off with something that is very easy to understand right off the bat.”

Most “NOVA” productions from start to finish tend to take about nine months to a year to be fully completed. The first few months are spent researching the topic, reaching out to scientists and figuring out how to tell the story. The production team then shoots for two to three months, and then edits for the final months.