On Screen · AD 79 · Pompeii, Campania, Italy
Tom Hiddleston's Pompeii docudrama follows three Romans through Vesuvius eruption of AD 79
National Geographic's three-part series mixes scripted drama with archaeologists and geologists, and claims many people caught in the eruption had a chance to survive.
Official announcement
Pompeii, Italy National Geographic has released Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston, a three-part series about the last hours of Pompeii before and during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The actor Tom Hiddleston hosts. The series mixes scripted drama with investigative documentary.
According to National Geographic, the series premiered on its channel on 22 July at 8pm (US Eastern time). It began streaming on Disney+ and Hulu on 23 July. Plimsoll Productions made it. SlashFilm reported that it is airing on National Geographic and streaming on Disney+.
Hiddleston is reunited with Kevin R. Wright, executive producer of the Marvel series Loki. Tom Barbor-Might is showrunner and director. Jessica Ruston and Mark Ravenhill wrote the series, with additional writing by Wright and Barbor-Might.
Three Romans in the path of Vesuvius
The drama follows three characters: a teenage apprentice, a powerful businesswoman and a Praetorian Guard. In the scripted scenes Hiddleston steps into their lives. National Geographic describes them as real Romans. The broadcaster's material does not say how the three people were identified, or from which evidence.
Hiddleston is guided by archaeologists, historians, geologists and disaster experts. None of them is named in the announcements. National Geographic says the series reveals evidence that challenges long-held assumptions about Pompeii. One claim is that many of those caught up in the disaster had the chance to survive. This is the broadcaster's description. The sources cite no study behind it.
Pompeii is often remembered for how its story ended. But by looking closer, we can uncover the details of people's lives, the choices they made, and the moments that came before the city was buried.
Tom Hiddleston, host
Tom McDonald, executive vice president of content at National Geographic, spoke about working with Hiddleston and Wright and the Plimsoll team led by Barbor-Might. He said it had been a process of inventing what he called an entirely new genre of history programming.
one which brings evidence and imagination together in a way which feels distinctive.
Tom McDonald, EVP of Content, National Geographic
What the evidence shows
The eruption of AD 79 buried Pompeii and nearby towns and villas, including Herculaneum and Oplontis, under volcanic ash and debris. The best written account is by Pliny the Younger, who watched it from across the Bay of Naples. He wrote two letters about it to the historian Tacitus. They describe how his uncle, Pliny the Elder, died trying to help people on the coast.
Pliny's letters record people deciding whether to flee or stay once the eruption began. The Praetorian Guard was the emperor's guard, normally based in Rome. The announcements do not explain why a guardsman was in Pompeii.
Pompeii has often been dramatised. SlashFilm points to Paul W.S. Anderson's 2014 film Pompeii. It also points to the sixth episode of the first season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which drew on the disaster.
On 21 July, natgeo.com was due to publish a story on three Roman cities buried by Vesuvius. The story is also featured in the August issue of National Geographic magazine. According to the broadcaster, researchers are using AI and advanced DNA analysis. Their topics are class and gender at Oplontis, previously unreadable writing in Herculaneum's carbonised scrolls, and diet and disease from a Pompeii latrine.
The series soundtrack, with a score by the composer Aisling Brouwer, is due from Hollywood Records on 24 July 2026.
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