Stern & Wild clients explore America’s origin story for new CNN documentary

Exciting news for Stern & Wild filmmakers Fred Hepburn and Duncan Singh whose major new CNN Original Series exploring the history of America’s expansion is set to premiere next month.

Timed to commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary, THIS LAND explores how the United States grew from a fragile experiment along the Atlantic coast into a nation spanning an entire continent. Over six episodes it examines how ambition, conflict and power redrew the country’s map and traces the impact of key territorial shifts on the nation’s history including the Louisiana Purchase, the westward push to California and the contest over Texas.

The six-part series is produced by October Films. Fred is Executive Producer and Showrunner on the series, while Duncan is Co-Executive Producer and directed two of the episodes.

The series aims to offer viewers a fresh perspective on America’s story and connect the present to the past by featuring living descendants of key figures involved in these pivotal moments from explorers and politicians to Indigenous leaders and immigrant labourers. It is sponsored by genealogy platform Ancestry which supported the production to locate many of the descendants seen on screen.

The series launches on CNN on Sunday, 7 June at 9pm ET/PT, airing two episodes weekly each Sunday. It will be available to CNN’s streaming subscribers via CNN.com/Watch and CNN connected TV and mobile apps from 8 June. To view the trailer, click here.