“HENRY DAVID THOREAU” is a three-hour, three-part documentary to premiere on PBS and affiliate stations on March 30, 2026 (episodes 1 and 2) and March 31, 2026 (episode 3).
Directed by Chris and Erik Ewers of Ewers Brothers Productions, and executive produced by Ken Burns and Don Henley, the film features narration by George Clooney, and the voices of Jeff Goldblum as Thoreau, Ted Danson as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Meryl Streep as several contemporaries of Thoreau, and Tate Donovan as Ellery Channing.
The Walden Woods Project is honored to have assisted in the development of this film, through the pivotal role of executive production by our Founder and Chairman of the Board, Don Henley.
Henry David Thoreau is often called the patron saint of the environmental movement, the father of nonviolent resistance, and the archetype for living a meaningful life. Long reduced to myth as a solitary hermit, Thoreau is reexamined in this new documentary as a complex, social, and searching thinker—one wrestling with many of the same questions we face today.
In this first nationally broadcast biography on Thoreau’s life and legacy, we walk beside Henry as he offers his thinking on timeless challenges. You are encouraged to watch the film from two perspectives: First, to answer the question, “Who was Henry David Thoreau?” Which of his themes evoke the deepest connection to you? Then, to answer a second question, “Who am I?” What does Thoreau have to say to me about my greatest life issues?
Watch the trailer here.
I’ve written a lot about Thoreau myself over the years in the New American Journal. Check out some of those links here.