Watch Wednesday, September 23, 2015 at 10pm on WMHT-TV
PBS presents RETURN TO THE WILD, a gripping documentary produced by Lincoln Square Productions in Association with Coneflower Studios for PBS about the life and death of a promising young man whose tragic end inspired the best-selling book and film “Into the Wild." The documentary features new details about the mysterious case, including Chris McCandless’ own words in previously unreleased letters he wrote before he disappeared and died in Alaska.
Twenty years ago a young American hiker Chris McCandless, the accomplished son of successful middle-class parents, was found dead in an abandoned bus in the Alaskan wilderness. The documentary retraces McCandless’ steps, trying to understand why he severed all ties with his past, burnt or gave away all his money, changed his name, and hiked into the Denali Wilderness. McCandless’ own letters, released for the first time – plus new and surprising interviews – shed light on a private mystery that became a public obsession and continues to confound so many to this day.
“PBS is the only place for a sensitive and thoughtful revisit of this heartbreaking and forgotten mystery,” said Beth Hoppe, PBS’ Chief Programming Executive and General Manager of General Audience Programming. “RETURN TO THE WILD puts the story back the national spotlight, delivering unseen evidence and revelatory details to the forefront of a tragic story.”
