Life Below Zero
Ricko DeWilde and his son Keenan in Life Below Zero season 21 episode 6. (Photo by Pedro Delbrey/BBC Studios Reality Productions, LLC)
Andy Dehnart
September 5, 2023
9 comments
While the Emmy-winning Life Below Zero is going strong, entering its 11th year on television, it’s been “a damn tough year” for its cast, as one of them says.
Death, divorce, and disaster from climate change are all looming over the cast members.
LBZ season 21—which is officially season 11, because everyone counts differently—premiered on Labor Day and settles into its usual Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET timeslot on National Geographic tonight, followed by the spin-off Life Below Zero: Next Generation at 10 ET. (Previous seasons are all on Disney+.)
The trailer for this Life Below Zero season is rather melancholy, with the cast members talking about what they’re struggling with—though it ends on a note of optimism. Watch:
Who’s on Life Below Zero now
Here’s the cast of Life Below Zero 21—along with what their primary focus is this season, according to a summary provided to me by BBC Studios Los Angeles, which produces the show:
- Ricko DeWilde and his children, who are increasingly independent, must continue to keep the flame of their Athabaskan culture from dying out in the rugged yet bountiful Alaskan Interior.
- Sue Aikens will explore areas of the tundra that were previously unreachable, but she’ll need to be wary of the increasing predator activity that looms in every direction.
- Chip and Agnes Hailstone welcome new grandchildren to the family, and their daughters will look to take the lessons they’ve learned from their parents as their guide as they teach the next generation of Inupiaq residents of the Arctic Northwest.
- Jessie Holmes recovers from a near-death accident which could thwart his ability to provide for himself in the Brushkana wilderness.
- For Andy Bassich and Denise Becker, the closure of the salmon fishery along the Yukon River will force them to travel beyond the comforts of Calico Bluff and find a replacement food source for their survival.
- Cole [Sturgis], the newest cast member of LBZ, struggles with a changing family while carving out a subsistence lifestyle in one of the last remaining float houses in Alaska
While you wait for the next episode, here’s my past coverage of Life Below Zero, focusing on what happens behind the scenes:
Life Below Zero behind the scenes
How is National Geographic Channel's reality show Life Below Zero filmed? What's it like to be on both sides of the camera? How were the show's spin-off series cast? Answers to all of those questions and more are in the stories below: a collection of behind-the-scenes pieces that include interviews with one of its stars and its showrunner, and a first-person account of what it's like to film a reality TV show in the middle of Alaska.
How Life Below Zero is filmed and produced
Joseph Litzinger—Life Below Zero's showrunner since season two, whose previouscreditsincludeThe ChallengeandHell’s Kitchen—writes about producingthe show in less-than-ideal environments. That includes frozen cameras and peeing in a bucket.
How Life Below Zero season 14 was filmed, and Next Generation was created
An interview with Life Below Zero executive producer and showrunner Joseph Litzinger about how covɪd-?? affected the production of Life Below Zero season 14, plus the creation of a new series in the franchise, Life Below Zero: Next Generation.
Why is Life Below Zero's music so loud?
A reader asks why the music and background sounds on Life Below Zero are so loud, and make it hard to hear dialogue. Its showrunner knows this is a problem, and explains why it might be happening.
Why Life Below Zero: First Alaskans' representation 'wasn't just lip service'
Life Below Zero: First Alaskans had a cast of Native Alaskans, and also had representation behind the camera. Here, a story producer talks about her job and helping to tell stories about Native lives and experiences.
Sue Aikens talks about being filmed
Life Before Zero's break-out star Sue Aikens talks about what it's like to be filmed for the National Geographic Channel series, and how she interacts with the film crew when she's at Kavik River Camp and elsewhere.
Sue Aikens on her crash and injuries
In 2015, Sue Aikens flew off her snowmachine, through the air and tumbles into snow. I interviewed her about what happened. "This injury absolutely taught me fear. I fear being in that much pain," she said.
What happened with Sue Aikens lawsuit?
After the events of that episode, Sue Aikens filed alawsuitagainst the production company and one of its producers, claiming she was “forced” to participate in “scripted scenes.”
Sue continued to appear in the series, and this story has details about what happened with that lawsuit.
How Port Protection: Alaska became part of the Life Below Zero family
The series Port Protection Alaska returns to NatGeo, rebranded as Life Below Zero: Port Protection. Meet its cast members, and see what makes it different than Life Below Zero.
Why didn't Amanda, Timbi, and Hans return to Life Below Zero: Port Protection?
What happened to cast members Amanda, Timbi, and Hans from early seasons of Port Protection? Also: watch Gary Muehlberger solve a problem at his house as winter approaches.
About the writer
Andy Dehnart
Andy Dehnart is a writer and TV critic who created reality blurred in 2000. His writing and reporting here has won an Excellence in Journalism award from NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists and an L.A. Press Club National A&E Journalism Award.
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