Chris Hemsworth has been changing lives with his Limitless with Chris Hemsworth series, but his latest journey is his most personal yet. In the National Geographic special Chris Hemsworth: A Road Trip to Remember, Chris invites viewers along on an adventure with him and his father Craig, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The duo set off not only to look through their past—but also to explore the science that might be able to help.

Returning for A Road Trip to Remember is executive producer Jane Root, who has overseen both seasons of Limitless through her production company Nutopia. She joined TVBrittanyF.com to talk about what audiences can expect from this special ahead of its Nov. 23 launch. But more importantly, Jane reflected on what she’s learned working with Chris and how what they’ve done has become something bigger than a TV brand.

Brittany Frederick: What was it about doing A Road Trip to Remember that stood out to you, that you were able to connect with?

Jane Root: You’ve got two amazing guys, Chris Hemsworth and Craig Hemsworth, who are full of exuberance. They’re like big, grown-up seven-year-olds, and they have an amazing connection together. And then you take the two of them on a giant, giant road trip across the outback of Australia, to visit the places where Chris grew up. That’s a very special thing to get an insight into. It’s a lovely, enjoyable thing. Chris used to say how he hadn’t really worn shoes until he was about seven, and lived this wild life. I’d heard about it, but to dive in more deeply, how can that not be exciting?

What were the production differences between this, which is a one-off project, and filming Limitless with Chris Hemsworth?

Limitless is big and bold. Filming in front of 80,000 people in Bucharest [at an Ed Sheeran concert for Limitless Season 2] was a big, big thing. But this was quieter and more intimate. It was still physically challenging… but it’s the same heart and inquisitiveness and going there from Chris and all of all of them.

This time, we also had to look after Craig. We had to make sure that he wasn’t too exhausted or too hot or working too hard. So we had to do a lot of things there. We also had to be really aware of the Indigenous community; some of the places that we were going to were very sacred to them, very important to them. And we had to respect their role in the film. That was important.

You’ve now been working with Chris on these really intellectually and emotionally stimulating journeys for awhile. What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned from this collaboration?

On this, I was just amazed by the intimacy that Chris was prepared to bring to the project. There were certain moments that I wasn’t sure if he would want us to film—when his dad gets confused, when it’s kind of obvious he doesn’t quite know what’s happening—and yet it’s all in there. Nothing got left out that we wanted to include, and that’s bravery. That’s real bravery. And I think that’s an important thing.

What else did I learn? I learned that there are crocodiles on the road in Bulman. I learned that Australia can be very dangerous; I think I knew that theoretically. And Australia is incredibly big. Most of the teams making this is based in London, and they were like Melbourne and Bulman, how far apart can they be? They were far apart as Los Angeles and Boston. It’s easy, if you’ve never been to Australia, to have a naivety about how giant and how underpopulated the heart of it is.

You mentioned the intimacy inherent in Chris Hemsworth: A Road Trip to Remember. How do you, as a producer, take something that’s so personal and make it universal to an audience, without giving up any of that intimacy?

The key to it is people who are prepared to open up. People who are prepared to be honest, and Chris is prepared to be honest in a way that very few people are.

I always remember the first Limitless film we did with him—the very first piece to camera that he does. He’s kind of thinking about something, and he says, I used to get stressed all the time, but I don’t anymore. Then he stops for a second [and] he says, that’s a lie. And I knew from that moment on that he’s going to be honest. He’s like, I get stressed all the time. What am I talking about?

People talk about going there, but I think it’s true that he does it in a way that is astonishing and surprising, and that he took his mom and his dad on that journey with him, which was wonderful.

You’ve produced documentaries in both the US and the UK. Do you take a similar approach to both audiences, or are there any creative differences?

This is a global one, because this is for Disney Plus and NatGeo, so we’re aware of a global audience. And of course, Chris and Craig are Australian, so this is going to be a big thing there as well.

There’s different small things about storytelling. British storytelling tends to unfold more slowly. I’m both British and an American these days, and when I watch some British TV, I’m like, what’s going on? Tell me. Get to the point. I have less tolerance now for films where suddenly everything changes halfway through without having given me a few hints early on that that’s going to happen. So there’s definitely a difference.

I think they’re all colliding now with the growth of international streaming. Things that might have felt that they were smaller films or for a very particular audience, we live in a globalized world, and things are seen increasingly by loads and loads of people. And so we’ve always been a global company. I’ve lived in America since Nutopia began, and so we’ve always had our eye on all those different things. When we make films, which we occasionally do just for a British audience, there are some things that we’re just aware of going a little slower sometimes… But mostly, we’re a global company.

The natural question fans are going to ask after this is, are there any plans for Limitless with Chris Hemsworth Season 3?

We’re talking to Chris all the time about what might come next. Who knows? There’s lots more to do.

Chris Hemsworth: A Road Trip to Remember premieres Nov. 23, 2025 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on National Geographic. Photo Credit: Craig Parry/Courtesy of National Geographic.

Article content is (c)2020-2025 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.