Fans of the popular television series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey have reason to be disappointed as Neil deGrasse Tyson may not return to host the second edition of the show, reported the Youth Health magazine. Michio Kaku and Bill Nye are reportedly in the running to claim the coveted spot. The show is the reboot of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, a show that pioneered the concept of science as a form of entertainment.
Nye is popular for his stint as the host of the Disney/PBS children’s science show Bill Nye the Science Guy. Kaku, despite appearing on several noteworthy television shows, has no prior experience as a presenter.
Fans of the documentary series had been demanding for a second installment of Cosmos after the first season garnered both critical and commercial success. It was reported earlier that Tyson did not intend on being a part of the second season of the show, as he had to sacrifice his family life to be a part of the first season. “We’re all flattered that people are thinking [about a season two], but it’s not clear that this was the kind of content you want to rattle off one year after the next,” remarked Tyson.
He also said he had no qualms about passing on the presenter’s role to someone else. “If, some years down the line, after my life has recovered, I’ll maybe [take up the role of a presenter again]. But I’d like science to be shared by all,” he said. “If someone else came up and wanted to host it, I don’t have any ego invested in the visibility that hosting Cosmos brought to me.”
With Tyson no longer returning as host for the second season, some fans have demanded that another famous scientist should take over the mantle of hosting the show. Cosmos fans have used the IMDb forum to discuss who would be the ideal host for season two and Nye won against other great scientific figures, such as Kaku and Richard Dawkins. However, Kaku has expressed his interest in becoming the host of Cosmos season 2 after learning that Tyson will not return as the show’s host, reported Japanese publication Kagaku kyō no nyūsu.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 24th, 2014.
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