Leonardo DiCaprio and Netflix Team Up for Series of Environmental Documentaries

Leonardo DiCaprio is partnering up with Netflix to create a new series of environmental and conservation-themed documentaries, which will air exclusively on the streaming service, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Fresh off an Oscar nomination for Virunga, on which DiCaprio was executive producer, Leo and his production company, Appian Way, will focus on creating “environmental and conservationist” programming through a multi-year deal that covers both original documentaries and docu-series projects, as well as acquisitions, per THR.

The Wolf of Wall Street actor, who is a staunch environmentalist, will act as either producer or executive producer on all projects covered under the partnership.

DiCaprio spoke at the 2014 UN Climate Change Summit, where he said:

As an actor I pretend for a living. I play fictitious characters often solving fictitious problems.

I believe humankind has looked at climate change in that same way: as if it were a fiction, happening to someone else’s planet, as if pretending that climate change wasn’t real would somehow make it go away.

…None of this is rhetoric, and none of it is hysteria. It is fact. The scientific community knows it, Industry and governments know it, even the United States military knows it. The chief of the US navy’s Pacific command, admiral Samuel Locklear, recently said that climate change is our single greatest security threat.

He spoke to THR about his excitement for more upcoming environmental projects.

“Working with Netflix on Virunga has sparked a shared vision about projects that we want to develop and bring to viewers,” DiCaprio said. “There’s never been a more critical time for our planet or more of a need for gifted storytellers to help us all make sense of the issues we face.

He continued: “Through this partnership with Netflix, I hope to give documentary filmmakers doing urgent and important work the chance to have their films seen immediately by audiences all around the world.”

Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos also spoke of the deal, telling THR the company looked forward to building on Virunga’s success with “more thought-provoking, high-quality documentaries and docu-series.”

Virunga, which is currently available for streaming on Netflix, is described as “a powerful combination of investigative journalism and nature documentary” by the film’s website.