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Finding Your Roots is Gearing Up For a Star-Studded Return; Season 11 to Feature Kristen Bell, Sharon Stone, and More
Season 11 of Finding Your Roots will premiere in January, featuring celebrities Chrissy Teigen, Kristen Bell, and Laurence Fishburne.
PBS’s Finding Your Roots, hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr., will return for its eleventh season on January 7, 2025. This season will feature a new group of celebrities exploring their family histories. Guests include Joy Behar, Kristen Bell, Laurence Fishburne, Debra Messing, Michael Imperioli, Melanie Lynskey, Natalie Morales, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Lea Salonga, Amanda Seyfried, Dax Shepard, Sharon Stone, Chrissy Teigen, celebrity chefs José Andrés and Sean Sherman, novelist Amy Tan, poet Rita Dove, historian Lonnie Bunch, and singer Rubén Blades.
The show delves into themes of family history, illustrating how love, courage, and personal sacrifice contribute to American history. This season will take viewers on a journey from coastal Africa to the Mississippi Delta, historic Jewish towns to Lakota territories, the Philippines to Puerto Rico. Additionally, a special segment will revisit an earlier landmark in Gates' own ancestry, resolving a long-standing family mystery.
The synopsis highlights how Gates' guests discover the common threads of love, courage, and sacrifice in their family histories, emphasizing how these experiences cross borders to form a diverse American root system.
Viewers of the eleventh season of Finding Your Roots, set to air soon, can look forward to some exciting revelations. Actress Sharon Stone, 66, will discover she is a direct descendant of two French kings and Charlemagne, the father of modern Europe. Laurence Fishburne, 63, will uncover details about his biological father, while Natalie Morales, 52, will learn she descends from a Caribbean pirate. Michael Imperioli will find that his Italian family's paternal figure bears a striking resemblance to his Sopranos character, also named Michael.
The series has previously delivered shocking revelations. Edward Norton was stunned to learn he is a genetic cousin of Julia Roberts; Kerry Washington discovered her conception was via sperm donation; and Viola Davis found a connection to Anita Hill. Lena Dunham was surprised to find a link to Larry David, calling it the hottest information she could have ever received. Bob Odenkirk also learned he has ties to King Charles and Nathan Lane.
The show has a history of uncovering fascinating family connections. For instance, in season 5, Andy Samberg discovered the identity of his grandmother, a mystery for his adopted mother. With its blend of surprises and heartfelt moments, the new season is expected to continue this tradition of revealing extraordinary family histories.
On the 2016 show Finding Your Roots, LL Cool J was informed that his mother was adopted; this was something that he never expected. Gates told PEOPLE in July, “LL had a whole new family, and it humbles me to be able to connect people to their ancestors, to their genealogical and genetic roots."
In a much-welcome development this year, Finding Your Roots received its first ever Emmy nomination for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special, something Gates mentioned he did not see coming. “I was waking up, dealing with jet lag. I looked at my text, and I thought I was hallucinating,” Gates also told PEOPLE in July.
Gates is also involved in another interesting project. His new documentary, Great Migrations: A People on the Move, will air on PBS on January 28, 2025. The series will focus on the migration of African Americans in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and their role in shaping the country.
“Migration is not unique to any single ethnicity or group, but it is a deeply profound aspect of the modern African American experience simply because black people were denied movement for so long,” according to the synopsis, adding, “This series will tell the story of African American movement over the 20th and 21st centuries and how it has shaped the nation.”
Season 11 of Finding Your Roots is set to debut on January 7, 2025, on PBS, along with the first two episodes of Great Migrations: A People on the Move, which are set during 9 PM ET on January 28, 2025.
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