A Netflix docuseries showcasing Vancouver Island’s natural beauty and wildlife is nominated for seven Daytime Emmys.
“Island of the Sea Wolves,” which premiered Oct. 11 on the streaming service, is narrated by Canadian actor Will Arnett and, along with positive reviews from viewers, could soon add some top television awards to its resume.
The 2023 Daytime Emmy award nominees were announced Tuesday with the Island-based series scoring several nods, including for Travel, Adventure and Nature Program, Writing Team for a Daytime Non-Fiction Program, Directing Team for a Single Camera Daytime Non-Fiction Program, Outstanding Music Direction and Composition, Cinematography, Single Camera Editing, and Sound Mixing and Sound Editing.
It’s the sixth-most nominated TV program this year, tying with the talk show “The Drew Barrymore Show,” according to the nominee list revealed last week.
“A huge congratulations to the entire team and to all other nominees,” River Road Films, the production company behind the series, said in an Instagram post celebrating the news.
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Leading up to its premiere, CHEK News spoke with River Roads’ Jeff Turner, who co-directed alongside Chelsea Turner and lauded the Island as “a special place in the world.” He said filming spanned about nine months and wrapped in November 2021, with James Honeybourne serving as executive producer.
SEE SEPT. 2022 STORY: New Netflix docuseries narrated by Will Arnett showcases Vancouver Island’s natural beauty
“What we really wanted to do with the series and the idea of it was to document a year in the life of Vancouver Island, just to go out there and see all the different wildlife characters and beauty of the Island and tell a story of what happens in a year there,” said Turner, thanking the “big crew” who helped make it all happen.
The three-part series has a 97 per cent approval rating from Google users and an 88 per cent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Clips of bears, bald eagles, Vancouver Island Marmots, sea otters and sea wolves, “whose spirit is legend,” are featured in the season one trailer voiced by Arnett.
“This is life on the edge; it’s life on Vancouver Island,” Arnett says in the preview, as scenic shots of land and Pacific Ocean wildlife flood the screen.
“We covered a lot of the Island,” added Turner.
“There’s obviously more wildlife in the north and the west … but our eagles were certainly filmed on the southern part of the Island, and we did some stuff around Comox and Courtenay. We did a little hummingbird sequence that was down in Victoria, so yeah, we were sort of everywhere.”
“Island of the Sea Wolves” is now streaming on Netflix, while the 50th annual “Daytime Emmy Awards” airs June 16 on CBS and Paramount+.
Ethan Morneau
