Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Produced by EverWonder Studio, Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever follows journalist Kara Swisher as she embarks on a deeply personal and sharply reported journey into the rapidly expanding world of longevity science and humanity's enduring quest to cheat death.

"When my father died of an aneurysm at 34 years old, I was only five years old. Since then, I've thought a lot about death and how it impacts us all, for better or worse," said Swisher.  "When I started covering Silicon Valley in the early 1990s, I spent a lot of time reporting on how innovation and tech leaders could help some people while hurting others. As titans who have profoundly impacted our world, they've become interested in applying their vast fortunes and often god-like know-how to longevity, dreaming they might even be able to hack death itself. Can they? Is that a good thing? What is actual breakthrough science and what is the same old snake oil? Will that effort help all of humanity or just themselves? My goal is the same as it always has been: To find out."

Inspired by her own experiences confronting mortality, Swisher investigates the promises and pitfalls of the booming longevity industry. Across the series, Swisher examines everything from anti-aging treatments and biotech breakthroughs to the role of artificial intelligence, the influence of Silicon Valley, and the growing cultural obsession with extending life. Along the way, she explores how wealth, access to healthcare, and social connection shape who benefits from these innovations, and whether humanity's pursuit of longer lives is changing how we think about death itself.

Throughout the series, Swisher sits down with a range of voices at the center of the longevity conversation, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, CRISPR pioneer and Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna, entrepreneur and professor Scott Galloway, and Reed Jobs, whose work is shaped by his family's personal encounter with cancer. The series takes Swisher from exclusive concierge medical clinics to cutting-edge biotech labs and international healthcare systems, including a visit to South Korea to examine how preventative care and innovation have contributed to the country's high life expectancy.

Series details

• Title: Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever
• Format: Documentary
• Language: English
• Genres: Medical, History
• Premiere date: 2026-04-11
• Status in TVmaze: Running
• Network listed by TVmaze: CNN
• Network country: United States
• Typical episode runtime: 60 minutes
• TVmaze community rating: 5/10
• TVMaze ID: 91125
• IMDb ID: tt40620455
• TVDB ID: 473332

Cast and credited roles

• Kara Swisher — Host

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 2026-04-11; final listed air date 2026-05-16; episode order: 6.

Source and licence

Adapted from Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.