Some celebrities act like they’re on another planet. Stars on Mars takes it a step further.
In FOX’s Stars on Mars (premieres Monday, June 5, at 8pm ET/PT), 12 “celebronauts” will suit up and enter a simulated Mars habitat to live, eat, sleep and strategize in a Survivor-style game on a fake Red Planet. They’ll have to accomplish tasks from Mission Control, contend with the environment and make nice with their crewmates. One by one, the celebs will be voted off the planet and launched back to Earth until one Martian stands alone.
William Shatner, a man who knows a few things about Hollywood and spaceflight, will issue orders to the celebs from Mission Control. After decades at the helm of Star Trek’s starship Enterprise, the actor, now age 92, took a real suborbital ride aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard launch vehicle in 2021.
“It’s a rush. It’s incredible,” Shatner says of his astronaut experience. “It’s something out of a dream and a nightmare, going up into space. It’s all that dreamlike thing where you experience something that you’ve never experienced before, and also you realize it’s fraught with danger.”
The celebronauts will live in a Mars station replica built in the Australian Outback town of Coober Pedy, known for its opal mines. “It is one of the hottest, driest places on Earth,” Shatner says. The heat is so intense in Coober Pedy that most of the residents live in underground “dugouts,” making it the ideal place to simulate a confined colony.
Your first look (or maybe your second if you've seen this already 😉) of #StarsOnMars on @RealityClubFOX premiering Monday June 5th on Fox. pic.twitter.com/fbvkQVfUxt
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) May 30, 2023
The rust-colored, rocky terrain is also a perfect setting. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory once gave Shatner a virtual-reality view of Mars with footage captured by a rover. “I used these 3D goggles, and everywhere you turn, you’re looking at the landscape of Mars,” he says. “So I’ve gotten a real vision of it, and it’s not unlike Coober Pedy.”
While the show is tongue-in-cheek and the goal is entertainment, there’s something to be learned from this experiment. It is inevitable that a few humans will be interplanetary celebrities for setting foot on Mars. “As an outpost in moving mankind around the solar system and the adventure of knowledge, it certainly is going to happen,” Shatner says. “The journey to Mars is closing in, but Stars on Mars will get there first.”
12 Stars on Mars Celebronauts
Lance Armstrong Former Professional Road-Racing Cyclist and Investor
Natasha Leggero Comedian, Actress and Writer
Marshawn Lynch Former Super Bowl Champion, Community Advocate and Entrepreneur
Christopher Mintz-Plasse Widely known Comedic Actor
Adam Rippon Olympic Figure Skater and TV Personalit
Ronda Rousey Professional Wrestler and UFC champion, Olympic Medalist and Actress
Tom Schwartz Television Personality and Restaurateur
Richard Sherman Sports Analyst and Professional Football Player
Tinashe Multi-Platinum-Certified POP & R&B Disruptor, Singer, Songwriter and Dancer
Porsha Williams Guobadia Television Personality, Actress and Author
Tallulah Willis Entrepreneur and Artist
Ariel Winter SAG Award-Winning Actress and Producer