Jeremy Wade talks new show 'Dark Waters,' myth, and the stories that bind us - The host of 'River Monsters' is back with a new show on Animal Planet which debuts on Sunday.

The host of 'River Monsters' is back with a new show on Animal Planet which debuts on Sunday.

Jeremy Wade grew to international fame as the host of River Monsters, a show in which he traveled the world exploring myths and real life stories about creatures living in the rivers around us. He’s back now with a new show for Animal Planet, Jeremy Wade’s Dark Waters, which has him at once escaping the boundaries of fresh water and also exploring new stories about water, people, and our fears around the world.

The show debuts on Animal Planet this Sunday, April 21st at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Wade and I have spoken several times before, and have actually gone on a fishing trip together, and I’ll admit I find him to be one of the more thoughtful and interesting people on TV, and not only because he explores the things I happen to fear most: the water and the creatures held within it.

In this interview, we discuss the new show, myth, creatures, and how fish stories around the world all connect us.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

FTW: Your previous show, River Monsters, often functioned a bit like a detective procedural. It feels like you’re embracing that again with Dark Waters. Was that something you wanted to lean in when it came to the narrative of each show?

 Jeremy Wade: Yes, but it’s sort of opening it out a little bit more. The River Monsters episodes acted a bit like a whodunit – there was a crime scene, maybe someone had been pulled under, and we had to find out what happened. And we did well with that type of narrative for many years, but eventually we did come to the end of that kind of story.

I was very aware that out there, you’ve got very different kinds of narratives. It might just be a myth about a lake monster, it might just be, I’ve heard about a thing in a particular place that just sounds unbelievable.

FTW: Did any one trip stand out this go around?

JW: One of the episodes we did was a return to South Africa. And the story we were following up there was about freshwater mermaids. It goes back into folklore quite a long way, but there are contemporaneous stories. And of all the things we were looking at, this was the one that felt more nebulous. There was the concern: Is this just going to fizzle out? Are we going to have any resolution there?

We did have a creature in mind, but I was a bit concerned that we were even going to get near to that. It’s one thing to say we have a creature, but in television we’ve got to show it as well. There’s an element of desperation sometimes. You know where you want the story to go, but it’s being resistant. Your suspect is being elusive. It’s not coming quietly. That episode, which was the last one we filmed, was one of the more uncooperative stories.

Photo courtesy of Animal Planet

FTW: You mentioned myth and folklore. You’ve traveled all over the world. Do you find that there are common threads that tie these stories together? Or are these stories unique, and can they tell you something about the place you’re visiting, the people, what they fear and what they believe?

JW: It’s interesting. You do get these similar stories everywhere. And I think part of that is because the underwater world is so unknown.

The human mind doesn’t like a vacuum. We will populate that vacuum with the contents of our own head, and often that’s scary stuff. It’s a blank canvas. Often what happens is that real creatures get mixed up. They’ll get our own baggage mixed up with their reality, and part of my job is to sort that out.

One I’ve found in many places is these mermaid stories, in particular. When we did that episode we ended up visiting a witch doctor. Often, in these different cultures, these underwater creatures will only communicate with special people, who act as intermediaries to the underwater world. We went and observed this sunrise ceremony on the shore in South Africa, and I was reminded of I’d seen all over the world.

There are common things in all of these rituals. A lot of it is about protection. Even without the creatures living in it, water is dangerous. We have an ambivalent relationship with water. It’s the source of life, it’s the source of food, but it’s also a source of death, if you’re not careful.

There are rituals to keep you safe. There are also rituals to protect fishermen. It’s about securing food, and keeping them safe in the face of danger.

But the other thing is very common is this idea that you must show respect to the environment.

The idea is that spirits will protect you, but only if you treat this realm, this environment, with respect. You can take fish out of it, but if you take too much, bad things will happen and we will no longer protect you. And that is common, you’ll find it in Mongolia, the Amazon, in New Zealand, you name it.

From time to time, people will criticize that aspect of the program. They’ll say “What are you doing showing these primitive rituals? You’re an intelligent guy, you should know that is all mumbo.” And my response to that is “Maybe you’re partly right, it’s all very colorful, and sure it’s great TV. But there is real wisdom there about respecting the environment that more enlightened people, supposedly, have forgotten all about.”

FTW: I feel like you could write an anthropology thesis at the end of this show.

JW: It’s interesting, but you’re exactly right. I’ve become an accidental anthropologist. I set off traveling, and when I started, I’ll be honest, I was only interested in fish. Sure, I’ll interact with the people, but it’s all about just getting to the fish.

But then you realize, you’re just getting an entirely different take on these people through the fish. And now we’re set on trying to cover as much of that as possible in the program.

Jeremy Wade’s Dark Waters will premiere on Sunday, April 21st at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Animal Planet.

This season there will also be an original four-episode digital mid-form series on Animal Planet GO, Facebook and YouTube called Dark Waters: How to Catch a River Monster. In this series, which will drop on May 14, Wade will discuss techniques, strategy and equipment used to find some of the fish featured in the series.