Netflix Celebrates Jane Goodall With Posthumous Docuseries

In March 2025, renowned primatologist Jane Goodall struck an agreement with Netflix: she had recorded a docuseries with the streaming service, but only on the condition that it be aired after her death. Now, Netflix has made good on its promise, finally releasing Famous Last Words: Jane Goodall following the naturalist’s death at 91 last week.

Throughout her confidential interview with Emmy Award-winner Brad Falchuk, Goodall offered reflections on her storied life and career. She expressed her philosophies on free will, winning arguments, ex-husbands, and spirituality; she discussed fictional characters like Tarzan and how she believed his Jane to be a “real wimp;” and she disclosed private thoughts with a remarkable level of candor and poise, revealing her regrets and hopes about what—or who—would greet her on the other side. Goodall shared these thoughts with Falchuk over a glass of whiskey, and, once their discussion concluded, he left the stage so she could deliver her final, unedited remarks directly to the camera.

“I want you to understand that we are part of the natural world. And even today, when the planet is dark, there is still hope,” she says. “If you want to save what is still beautiful in this world, then think about the actions you take each day. I just hope that you understand that this life on Planet Earth isn’t the end. I believe, and now I know that there is life beyond death. That consciousness survives.”

She continues: “As we destroy one ecosystem after another, as we create worse climate change, worse loss of diversity, we have to do everything in our power to make the world a better place for the children alive today, and for those that will follow. You have it in your power to make a difference. Do your best while you’re still on this beautiful Planet Earth that I look down upon from where I am now.”

Goodall’s message comes amid the U.S. federal government’s continued assault on environmental protection. In July, the Department of Energy released a report denying climate science, while the Department of the Interior rolled back mining standards and expanded mining areas in June. Just a few days ago, President Trump made moves to relax a rule requiring grocery stores, AC companies, and semiconductor plants to sharply and rapidly reduce powerful greenhouse gases used in cooling equipment. His administration has also shut down the Environmental Protection Agency’s scientific research arm. Perhaps it should come as no surprise, then, that Goodall named Trump among the people she disliked during her interview.

“There are people I don’t like,” she admitted to Falchuk. “And I would like to put them on one of [Elon] Musk’s spaceships and send them all off to the planet he’s sure he’s going to discover.”

“Would he be one of them?” Falchuk asked.

“Oh, absolutely, he’d be the host. Along with Musk, would be Trump, and some of Trump’s real supporters. Put them all on that spaceship and send them off.”

It wasn’t the first time Goodall has expressed distaste toward Trump and his allies. During his first presidential campaign in 2016, she compared him and his antics to “male chimpanzees and their dominance rituals.” She reiterated the sentiment during a 2022 interview with MSNBC, saying Trump was exhibiting the “same sort of behavior as a male chimpanzee will show when he is competing for dominance with another.”

Netflix’s Famous Last Words is based on a Danish TV format of the same name where notable figures share a final message that will only be seen posthumously. Jane Goodall’s episode is the first in the streaming giant’s new docuseries. Mikael Bertelsen, the creator and host of the show’s Danish version, also praised the initiative, describing it as “some of the strongest television I had seen in a long time.”

Famous Last Words: Jane Goodall was released on October 3, 2025, and is currently available to stream via Netflix.