The new documentary series The Dinosaurs charts the rise and fall of Earth’s prehistoric creatures. Narrated by Academy Award-winner Morgan Freeman, the four episodes explore the dinosaurs’ origins, significance, evolution, and ultimate extinction.
The miniseries is streaming on Netflix from today (6 March 2026). It comes from executive producer Steven Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment, in collaboration with the creators of Our Planet.
About 235-million years ago, on the arid supercontinent of Pangaea, a small, agile creature known as Marasuchus hatched from an egg. Walking on two legs and equipped with efficient lungs, lightweight bones and warm blood, the animal carried traits that would shape a lineage destined to dominate the planet. From such beginnings emerged the dinosaurs, which ruled Earth for around 150-million years.
The Dinosaurs examines this early proto-dinosaur alongside a broad range of prehistoric species, including lesser-known animals identified through recent fossil research. Larger species such as Plateosaurus and Mamenchisaurus also feature, as the series traces evolutionary shifts across millions of years in response to changing environments.
Armoured species such as Stegosaurus and Ankylosaurus appear alongside predators including Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex. Marine reptiles such as Pliosaurus and Mosasaurus feature in ocean sequences, alongside the semi-aquatic Spinosaurus. Early feathered species, including Anchiornis and Longipteryx, are placed within the evolutionary lineage that connects dinosaurs to modern birds.