Netflix releases epic trailer for Morgan Freeman-narrated nature documentary Life on Our Planet

Netflix has released the first full-length trailer for Steven Spielberg’s forthcoming nature documentary series, Life on Our Planet.

Oscar-winner Morgan Freeman narrates the eight-episode series, which chronicles “life’s epic battle to conquer and survive on Planet Earth”.

“Today there are 20 million species on our planet, yet what we see is just a snapshot in time – 99 per cent of earth’s inhabitants are lost to our deep past,” reads the series synopsis.

“The story of what happened to these dynasties – their rise and their fall – is truly remarkable.”

Using state-of-the-art visual effects, Life on Our Planet will bring long extinct creatures – such as dinosaurs, woolly mammoths, and sabre-toothed predators – back to life on screen.

The trailer begins with generated footage of a Tyrannosaurus Rex preying on a Triceratops.

“This is the story of the great battles of survival – and the dynasties that would take over the world,” says Freeman, who previously narrated the hit 2005 nature documentary March of the Penguins, says in a voiceover.

The footage goes on to show animals including sharks, cheetahs, komodo dragons, and squids. “From the beginning of life to today,” continues Freeman. “This is the story of life on our planet.”

The trailer poses the question: “Who will rise? Who will fall? Who will rule the world?”

Together with the Emmy award-winning team behind David Attenborough’s Our Planet, Spielberg serves as an executive producer on the series.

According to Vanity Fair, Life on Our Planet will dramatise five global extinction events.

In an interview with the publication last week, producer Alastair Fothergill, a veteran nature documentarian best known for the 2001 series The Blue Planet, said of the forthcoming series: “It’s really important to say that extinction events shouldn’t necessarily be considered as disasters.

“They are clearly disasters for those animals who go extinct in the process, but in the history of evolution of life, there are winners and losers.”

Life on Our Planet comprises eight 60-minute episodes and will be available to stream on Netflix on 25 October.