Life Below Zero is back, after NatGeo cancelled all other LBZ shows (2025)

Life Below Zero season 23 cast member Ricko DeWilde (Photo by Ryan Walsh/BBC Studios)

National Geographic’s Life Below Zero returns for season 23 tonight, and will be following some of its longtime cast members: Sue Aikens, Ricko DeWilde, and the Hailstone family.

Joining them are Johnny Rolfe and the Roach family from Life Below Zero: Next Generation and Gage and Avery Hoffman from Life Below Zero: First Alaskans.

They’re all on Life Below Zero because their shows have been cancelled.

Yes, NatGeo has axed:

• Life Below Zero: Next Generation
• Life Below Zero: First Alaskans
• Port Protection Alaska, aka Life Below Zero: Port Protection,aka Port Protection

While NatGeo aired a final Dr. Pol episode after cancelling fan-favorite series The Incredible Dr. Pol, and gave Variety an “EXCLUSIVE” story about the cancellation of Wicked Tuna, NatGeo has not announced nor eulogized the Life Below Zero shows.

That sucks. It particularly sucks for Life Below Zero: First Alaskans, a show that aired three seasons and actually centered indigenous people with a cast of entirely Alaska Natives. The franchise’s (non-Alaska Native) producer told me they wanted “to have indigenous people telling Indigenous stories.”

I reached out to multiple people at NatGeo to confirm the fate of these series, or find out what the official line was about why they were cancelled. I have not received replies.

But they are definitely cancelled. I’ve heard from people who work on the shows confirming their cancellations, and cast members have been public about it, too.

Earlier this year, Life Below Zero: Next Generation cast member Brittany Rowland wrote on Facebook, “National Geographic has decided to cancel Life Below Zero’s spin off shows, including ours, Next Generation. Honestly, we don’t exactly understand why as NextGen has been wonderfully successful.”

Katie Sarvela, who was also on Life Below Zero: Next Generation, started a petition that currently has more than 4,300 signatures. She wrote, in part:

The cancellation of our beloved spin-offs has deeply affected not just me, but my family, our friends on cast and crew, and countless fans worldwide. We all share a deep love for these shows that offer a unique glimpse into life in remote areas of Alaska. According to Nielsen ratings data, millions of viewers tuned in each week to watch us brave the harsh Alaskan wilderness (source: Nielsen). This demonstrates the significant impact and reach these shows have had.

The abrupt end has left us all disappointed and longing for more seasons. By signing this petition, you are not just supporting us – you are voicing your desire for more authentic stories about Alaska living.

Let’s send a strong message to producers that there is still an eager audience waiting for more seasons of Life Below Zero and it’s spin-offs. Please sign this petition today to bring back our favorite shows!

It’s not the producers, however; it’s the corporation. I’m sure the producers, and even creative people at the networks, would like to continue making Life Below Zero in all of its iterations. But that’s come up against a new reality: the reality TV industry is in chaos and people are in despair.

Of course, TV shows are cancelled all the time. Some don’t have ratings; others get too expensive; sometimes they’re just cancelled because a new executive wants to take the network in a new direction or doesn’t like a show. But I suspect these shows were caught up in the massive purge and slowdown in reality TV.

Disney, which bought NatGeo’s parent company in 2019, has been going on a layoff tear recently, attempting to get rid of 8,000 employees and trying to save $7.5 billion this year, because capitalism. (As of this writing, Disney is worth $168.36 billion.)

Disney Entertainment Television fired 13 percent of NatGeo’s staff in July, and the company keeps firing people, calling it “ongoing optimization work,” because we’re living in a dystopian movie.

For some time, NatGeo content has been appearing on Disney+, and sometimes even premiering there, so the channel is on its way to becoming a zombie network like so many others.

Late this summer, the NatGeo app was killed off, and viewers were told to watch on Disney+, Hulu, or the website (LOL) instead.

Ironically, Life Below Zero season 23 will not be on Disney+ until March. Its episodes will only be available Tuesdays at 9 on National Geographic channel—old-fashioned linear television.

Disney isn’t alone in this, of course. Paramount+ fired its publicity team as part of its attempt to save $500 million by firing 2,000 to 3,000 people.

Paramount Global’s trio of CEOs, Brian Robbins, George Cheeks and Chris McCarthy—yep, it takes three people to mismanage the company this badly—said “we are working to accelerate streaming profitability while at the same time adjusting to the evolving landscape in our traditional businesses.”

Free idea: Maybe create a streaming app that’s functional, instead of one that shows me the same garbage again and again? That could help with, you know, getting people to pay for it.

I know the business is in trouble, having abandoned their changing but profitable businesses to chase Netflix despite Netflix not being profitable. But it seems to me that one thing companies that make TV may need are creative people and the television shows they make and promote.