Popular 80s TV series "Cosmos," which taught a generation about the universe's origins, will be reborn in a new version spearheaded by "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane, according to Fox.
The new series, "Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey," will explain the laws of nature and humans' place in space and time, the television network said.
The original documentary series, "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage," was written by Carl Sagan, who died in 1996 after publishing a number of popular science books.
He authored Pulitzer-prize winning "The Dragons of Eden," about the evolution of human intelligence, and "The Demon-Haunted World," which attempted to explain scientific method to non-scientists.
Fox said "Cosmos" has been seen by more than 700 million people in 80 countries.
The new show will be a 13-part "docu-series" and is set to air in 2013. Sagan's widow Ann Druyan and astrophysicist Steven Sotor, who both worked on the original show, will be co-collaborators on the new series.
"Never more than at this moment in the modern era have we needed a profound reminder of the colossally important and exciting role that science, space exploration and the human quest for knowledge must continue to play in our development as a species," said MacFarlane.
Emmy-award winning "Cosmos" first aired in 1980 and was the most watched television series in the history of American public television until 1990.
Fox president Kevin Reilly called the new version "a golden opportunity to introduce 'Cosmos' to a new generation."
Sagan worked for the US space agency NASA for years and was one of the initiators of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), a research field.
Source: AFP Global Edition
