First Trailer for Pompeii Survival Series Drops, Starring ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Star Tom Hiddleston in a Gripping Ancient Disaster Story
National Geographic has released the first teaser for a new documentary-style series about the destruction of Pompeii, with Marvel actor Tom Hiddleston front and center as the host and narrator of the project.
The series, titled Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston, will premiere on Disney+ and Hulu, according to information shared by National Geographic. The show revisits the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, which destroyed the Roman city of Pompeii and buried it under layers of ash and volcanic debris.
The teaser trailer shows Hiddleston introducing the idea behind the series. He explains that storytelling about the past helps people understand the present. “Human beings have always told stories. We tell stories about the past to understand something about our present,” he says in the opening moments of the preview.
The series aims to revisit the well-known disaster from a different angle. While most people are familiar with the destruction of Pompeii, Hiddleston points out that there are still parts of the story that are not widely known. One of the key ideas explored in the series is that not everyone in Pompeii died during the eruption, and some people actually survived. This discovery becomes a major focus of the project.
Hiddleston also says in the trailer that this realization is what drew him to the series. “That was the light bulb for me. That’s why I wanted to make this series,” he explains.
Pompeii: Out of Time mixes documentary storytelling with dramatized recreations. The teaser includes behind-the-scenes footage showing actors performing scenes set in ancient Pompeii, as well as production work designed to recreate the world before the eruption. The series appears to follow a structured investigation into what happened during the disaster, almost like a historical investigation.
In the show, Hiddleston takes on the role of a “time detective,” guiding viewers through the timeline of events leading up to and following the eruption. The series is designed to break down the disaster in detail, looking at how people lived moment by moment as the volcano erupted and changed everything.
Executive producer Kevin R. Wright describes Hiddleston’s role as someone “digging into the past” to uncover hidden survival stories. The show also aims to connect ancient history with modern understanding, showing how much of the human experience remains the same across time.
The teaser ends with Hiddleston hinting that the series will challenge what viewers think they know about Pompeii. “This will be a new way of telling this story,” he says. He also adds, “I’ll never think about Pompeii in the same way ever again. I know what the ending is… or do I?”
The project continues Hiddleston’s long collaboration with Disney, where he is best known for playing Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Outside of Marvel, he has appeared in projects such as The Night Manager, Kong: Skull Island, War Horse, and Crimson Peak.
A release date for Pompeii: Out of Time has not yet been announced, but the teaser suggests the series will offer a mix of history, storytelling, and dramatization focused on one of the most famous natural disasters in human history.
Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!
