Ellen Saves the Gorillas in New Documentary

Comedian and former talk show host Ellen DeGeneres will star in the documentary Saving the Gorillas: Ellen’s Next Adventure, which is scheduled to premiere this Saturday.

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The two-hour special follows DeGeneres as she and her wife Portia de Rossi as they build The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in the African country of Rwanda. 

In the documentary, DeGeneres said: “Every single thing has led me to just have a big enough platform to say, ‘Look at work Dian Fossey did.’ There’s nothing that keeps you more present, more in the moment, than sitting with gorillas.”

DeGeneres opened The Ellen Campus in February 2022. When she announced it, she explained that de Rossi launched the project four years earlier as a gift. DeGeneres called Fossey a “hero” of hers when she was growing up. 

“I remember reading National Geographic and seeing Dian Fossey, this woman in the jungle with gorillas, and I was like ‘oh my god, what an incredible human being,’” she told the audience on her show when the campus opened. 

The late Dian Fossey was a renowned primatologist and conservationist known for her work studying mountain gorillas until her murder in 1985. Many believe she was assassinated because of her opposition to poaching. 

DeGeneres explained that the $15 million project is meant to help continue Fossey’s work. Since it opened, the campus has hosted more than 40,000 visitors.

According to the Gorilla Fund website, the campus is a “multi-acre, eco-friendly facility” near the Volcanoes National Park, home to some 380 mountain gorillas. 

Saving the Gorillas: Ellen’s Next Adventure will premiere Saturday, Sept. 23 at 8 p.m. Eastern on the Discovery Channel, and it will air again on Sunday, Sept. 24 at 10 p.m. Eastern on Animal Planet. It will also stream on Max and discovery+.