NEED TO KNOW
Shark Week 2026 kicks off July 26 on Discovery with 20 all-new specials airing nightly through August 1
The premiere night features K-Pop Shark Heroes with Ken Jeong and Rei Ami
Shark Week shows will include groundbreaking science, daring stunts, and up-close encounters with the ocean’s most fascinating predators
There’s something in the water; it’s Shark Week 2026.
The beloved action-packed TV event is back for its 38th year and will premiere on Discovery on Sunday, July 26 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at Shark Week 2026’s slate of fin-filled shows, which includes 20 all-new specials.
The famous week-long celebration of sharks, includes new shows every night July 26– August 1. Discovery promises the premieres will include astounding stunts, pioneering technology and plenty of face time with the ocean’s most stunning apex predators.
Shark Week 2026 will kick off on the evening of July 26 with K-Pop Shark Heroes, a new special featuring Ken Jeong and Rei Ami, which has the celebrities traveling around East Asia to reshape perceptions and challenge misconceptions about sharks. The power of K-Pop and its fanatical following helps K-Pop Shark Heroes spread its positive message.
K-Pop Shark Heroes premieres at 8 p.m. ET/PT on July 26. for a look at the Shark Week highlights to follow, read on for the TV event’s thrilling 2026 slate.
SUNDAY, JULY 26
On Shark Week’s 2026 kick-off day, K-Pop Shark Heroes is followed by Air Jaws: Red, White and Breach at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Discovery. This new Air Jaws special delves into an emerging phenomenon: great white sharks breaching in California like never before. Sunday’s new programming concludes with Invasion of the Mega Sharks at 10 p.m. ET/PT, which follows shark researcher Dr. Neil Hammerschlag and Shark Week expert Paul de Gelder on a mission to track down “Big Rose,” a record-breaking great white shark.
Shark Week 2026’s “Invasion of the Mega Sharks”
Credit: Courtesy: Discovery Channel
MONDAY, JULY 27
The second night of Shark Week starts with Bull Shark Dinner Bell at 8 p.m. ET/PT. In the show, shark attack survivor and advocate Paul de Gelder works with apex predator specialist Rosie Moore to investigate what triggers bull sharks to confront humans. At 9 p.m. ET/PT, House of Sharks takes viewers to the waters outside New Zealand where great white sharks compete to gain control of the nearby feeding ground. The evening ends with Biggest Mako on Earth at 10 p.m. ET/PT, where marine biologist Tristan Guttridge, conservationist Kendyl Berna and shark tagger Keith Poe explore rumors that 15 to 20-foot mako sharks are in the deep waters off Southern California.
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TUESDAY, JULY 28
Jurassic Sharks at 8 p.m. ET/PT leads the night. The show uses CGI to bring the ocean’s most bizarre Jurassic sharks back to life like never before. This special is followed by Jaws vs Orca at 9 p.m. ET/PT, which dives into how killer whales are challenging the great white shark’s apex predator status. Capping off Tuesday evening is Chum Island: Catching a Killer at 10 p.m. ET/PT, a show investigating a strange surge in highly aggressive shark attacks off Australia’s southern coast with marine biologist Dr. Riley Elliott.
A great white shark in “Chum Island: Catching a Killer”
Credit: Courtesy: Discovery Channel
WEDNESDAY, JULY 29
Expedition X: Atomic Sharks at 8 p.m. ET/PT is the first premiere of Wednesday night. The new show follows Phil Torres and Heather Amaro as they travel to the remote Marshall Islands, home to the world’s largest shark sanctuary and an area where the United States military detonated 67 nuclear bombs. At 9 p.m. ET/PT it’s Expedition Unknown: Shark Secrets with explorer Josh Gates traveling back in time to take a fresh look at some of the world’s most infamous shark encounters. Alien Sharks: Untamed America at 10 p.m. ET/PT concludes the premieres for Wednesday. The special features wildlife biologist Forrest Galante on a nationwide quest to find the most bizarre sharks in the U.S.
A great white shark featured in Shark Week 2026
Credit: Courtesy: Discovery Channel
THURSDAY, JULY 30
What Shark Attacked? at 8 p.m. ET/PT is the first new show on Thursday and it includes shark scientists Tom “Blowfish” Hird and Rosie Moore, alongside conservationist Kinga Phillips, investigating why shark attacks, while rare, occur at all. The show is followed by How to Train a Great White at 9 p.m. ET/PT with marine biologist Dr. Tristan Guttridge attempting to train great white sharks using techniques pioneered by the U.S. Navy to train dolphins. Last but not least is Ultimate Shark Dive at 10 p.m., where world-class Red Bull high diver Molly Carlson leaps from a helicopter above the open ocean in an attempt to complete the highest freefall dive in Shark Week history.
A scene from “Biggest Mako on Earth”
Credit: Courtesy: Discovery Channel
FRIDAY, JULY 31
For Shark Week 2026’s penultimate day there is Secrets of the Great White Kill at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The special uses groundbreaking science to study how adaptive and intelligent alpha great white sharks are during their hunts. This is followed by Sharkzilla Takes New York at 9 p.m. ET/PT. In the program, conservation biologist Dr. Craig O’Connell visits an old nuclear dumping ground filled with great whites and makos to see if the site has any radioactive secrets. My Strange Shark Addiction ends the night at 10 p.m. ET/PT with a show that explores how far people will go to fuel their fascination with sharks?
SATURDAY, AUGUST 1
The final night of Shark Week concludes with two premieres. First, Great White Highway at 8 p.m. ET/PT, which reveals how great white sharks’ push up the East Coast is leading to more human-shark interactions. This show is followed by Thresher Shark: Stun to Kill at 9 p.m. ET/PT, a special about the physics behind the thresher shark’s devastating tail strike.
To learn more about Shark Week 2026 and its slate of new shows, visit sharkweek.com.
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