How to watch ‘Shark Week’ 2026 — schedule, dates & episodes

Shark Week 2026 is here! This year’s highlights include experiments testing great white intelligence, Molly Carlson’s death-defying freefall dive into a reef shark feeding frenzy, and a deep-dive on the thresher’s tail strike. The 20-strong lineup of shows airs across seven nights, and Live Science is here with all the TV and streaming details.

Shark researcher Neil Hammerschlag, joined by Shark Week expert Paul de Gelder, leads a team to track down Big Rose, a record-breaking great white believed to be one of largest predators in the North Atlantic. Using innovative tagging technology and daring field operations, they venture to a newly discovered shark hotspot off Nova Scotia aiming to transform our understanding of these ocean giants.

Off the coast of New Zealand lies a hidden shark battleground, where three distinct groups of great whites organize into competing “houses” and may be competing with one another to gain control of a major seal feeding ground. Marine biologist Tristan Guttridge and underwater cinematographer Kina Scollay venture into the middle of the action on an epic expedition. As they investigate, they uncover the possibility that these clans of great whites recognize their kin and return season after season to their ancestral territories, raising the theory that these predators aren’t solitary hunters but rival dynasties at war.

For decades, rumors have swirled about massive, 15- to 20-foot-long (4 to 6 meters) mako sharks patrolling the deep waters off Southern California. Long dismissed as fishers’ tales, new footage, along with a recently published photo capturing a mako that appears to stretch 15 feet, is now forcing scientists to rethink everything they know about these oceanic apex predators. Marine biologist Tristan Guttridge, alongside conservationist Kendyl Berna and shark tagger Keith Poe, go on an investigation to determine whether the world’s biggest mako is real — and hunting in the coastal waters of Santa Catalina.

For millennia, the great white shark has reigned as the ocean’s ultimate apex predator. But now, a new challenger is emerging: the orca. Around the world, sharks are washing ashore with their livers removed with chilling precision while in the Strait of Gibraltar, orcas are targeting sailboats — ramming hulls, crippling rudders and sinking vessels. To investigate this shift in behavior, Tristan Guttridge explores orcas’ attacks on boats to reveal how these predators hunt and how they may be taking down great white sharks.

In this Shark Week whodunnit, a rare surge of highly aggressive shark attacks hit a tight-knit community off Australia’s southern coast, prompting marine biologist Riley Elliott to find and tag the oceanic suspects. But when he discovers this could be a new, elusive population of sharks, he builds the world’s first “chum island” to lure them in and uncover if they are the ones responsible for the attacks.

Phil Torres and Heather Amaro travel 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) west of the U.S. to the remote Marshall Islands, home to the world’s largest shark sanctuary, where apex predators are exhibiting highly aggressive behaviors and erratic swimming patterns. Between 1946 and 1958, the United States military detonated 67 nuclear bombs around the island, raising questions about their lasting impact on marine life. Now, the team dives into these dangerous waters to investigate reports of “mutant” sharks and uncover whether atomic blasts could be to blame.

Global explorer Josh Gates travels back in time and dives into the history behind some of the world’s most infamous shark encounters, from the earliest known shark attack to the mystery surrounding the shark feeding frenzy faced by sailors following the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. He also investigates the legendary “Stronsay Beast,” a mysterious creature that washed ashore in Scotland in 1808.

Shark attacks are extremely rare, but when they happen, the first question is always the same: What kind of shark was it? Leading shark scientists Tom Hird and Rosie Moore, alongside conservationist Kinga Philipps, investigate mysterious attacks from around the world using cutting-edge forensic analysis – including bite pattern comparison, geographic profiling, video evidence, and eyewitness testimony – to identify the species responsible and uncover why these life-threatening encounters occur.

Tristan Guttridge ventures into shark-infested waters off New Zealand to answer a provocative question: Can sharks be trained? Using techniques pioneered by the U.S. Navy to train dolphins in complex cognitive tasks, the team tests whether these apex predators can learn, solve problems and respond to cues. If successful, the experiment can potentially redefine shark intelligence and transform our understanding of one of the ocean’s most misunderstood predators.

After a wave of mauled marine life washes ashore in New York, conservation biologist Craig O’Connell launches an investigation to find the culprit. When it leads to an old nuclear dumping ground teaming with great whites and makos, he is left with the theory that the predator may be radioactive. A deeper dive reveals an unexpected hotspot for massive makos off the coast of the Hamptons, suggesting that these waters may be hiding something even bigger beneath the surface.

How far will people go to fuel their fascination with sharks? For four devoted shark “fin-atics,” their obsession shapes every aspect of their lives. From a dentist who spends every spare moment searching for life-size shark replicas to a woman who insists she has a special connection with her shark “boyfriend,” and a world-record holder covered in shark tattoos, this special explores how their daily routines, relationships and finances revolve entirely around sharks.

The physics behind the thresher shark’s devastating tail strike has long remained a mystery — until now. For the first time ever, the discovery of a shallow-water feeding ground has made observing this behavior possible. Now, shark scientist Craig O’Connell and marine biologist Aliah Banchik dive into the direct line of fire as they attempt to reveal exactly how these predators use their tails to stun and kill.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.