Discovery Channel Releases Full Shark Week Schedule, Dwayne Johnson Serving as MC

By Patrick Cavanaugh

Few summer events are bigger than Discovery Channel's Shark Week, and few celebrities are as big as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, with the two coming together for this year's annual celebration of the fantastic fish. Johnson serves as Shark Week's first-ever Master of Ceremonies. The A-list talent doesn't stop there, as stars from Impractical Jokers and Jackass will also be dropping by the event, as will comedian Tracy Morgan. The real stars of the event, of course, are the sharks themselves, with Discovery debuting a number of all-new specials that will be available not only on the Discovery Channel, but also on discovery+. Additionally, an all-new Shark Week podcast will be launching ahead of the event's kickoff.

"I'm honored to be your first-ever Shark Week Master of Ceremonies. Our Seven Bucks Productions has partnered with Discovery to bring you a very special (and badass) Shark Week. I filmed exclusively in my home state of Hawaii, these beautiful predators, Aumakua (Gods), are deeply revered and respected in our Polynesian culture," Johnson shared on Instagram.

Scroll down to see the full Shark Week schedule before the event officially kicks off on July 24th on the Discovery Channel.

discovery+ Exclusives

Friday, July 15th

Dawn of the Monster Mako - exclusive premiere on discovery+

  • A 14-foot giant mako shark is spotted in the waters off the Azores. Veteran underwater cinematographer Joe Romeiro and his wife, marine biologist and filmmaker Lauren Romeiro, search the teeming depths around the ancient island archipelago to capture the beast on film.

The Haunting of Shark Tower - exclusive premiere on discovery+

  • News of a harrowing shark encounter at North Carolina's Frying Pan Tower has underwater cinematographer Andy Casagrande and Shark Expert Kori Garza on a dangerous quest to discover whether great white sharks are moving into the state's waters.

Saturday, July 23rd

Great White Intersection - exclusive premiere on discovery+

  • Following the tragic and fatal shark attack of Arthur Medici in September 2018, Great White Intersection takes an in-depth look at the resurgence of great white sharks off the beaches of Cape Cod as the local community struggles to come to terms with a new reality.

Sunday, July 24th

Return to Headstone Hell – premieres at 7 p.m. ET on Discovery

  • Dr. Riley Elliott returns to Norfolk Island with underwater cinematographer Kina Scollay to see what happens when the island's tiger sharks go head-to-head with migrating great whites over an unusual food source: cow carcasses.

Great White Battleground – world premiere at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • Michelle Jewel believes the great white sharks of South Africa perform their signature aerial attacks for reasons beyond just hunting prey. Now, she's headed to the great white battleground on a cutting-edge mission to decipher the secret language of white shark breaching.

Jackass Shark Week 2.0 - world premiere at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • Johnny Knoxville, Chris Pontius, Wee Man, Jasper, Dark Shark, Zach Holmes, and Poopies are back to finish what they started. After Knoxville sent the guys on a terrifying Shark Week mission last year, Knoxville is joining the boys as they head out to get their friend Poopies over his fear of sharks.

Great White Open Ocean – world premiere at 10:30 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • In 2020, shark diving expert Jimi Partington nearly dies in the jaws of a great white. A year later, he looks to overcome his PTSD and get back in the water with the ocean's biggest mega-sharks. But what starts off as a positive experience, quickly becomes a battle for life and death.

Monday, July 25th

Stranger Sharks – premieres at 7 p.m. ET on Discovery

  • Mark Rober and Noah Schnapp from Stranger Things are teaming up for the ultimate Shark Week adventure -- exploring abandoned undersea ruins and manmade artificial reefs searching for the strangest sharks in the ocean.

Air Jaws: Top Guns – world premiere at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • High-flying sharks are back, but with a new team competing to be the next "top guns" of Air Jaws. Dickie Chivell and Andy Casagrande use the latest high-tech cameras in hopes of capturing the largest breaching great white ever seen.

Great White Serial Kill: Fatal Christmas - world premiere at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • After a surfer dies off Morro Bay, California on Christmas Eve, shark attack investigators Ralph Collier and Brandon McMillan use forensic evidence and eyewitness accounts to ID the suspected killer: an 18-foot great white.

Rise of the Monster Hammerheads – world premiere at 10 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • Reports of two legendary, very large great hammerheads -- Big Moe in the Florida Keys and Sunken in Andros, Bahamas -- have Dr. Tristan Guttridge and Andy Casagrande wondering if there is a clan of monster hammerheads who share the same DNA.

Mega Predators of Oz – premieres at 11 p.m. ET on Discovery

  • In South Australia, a fisherman found a half-eaten mako and shark experts say only one species is responsible. Using underwater ultrasound imagery, tissue sampling, and collecting DNA, they will prove that the great white is the ultimate mega predator.

Tuesday, July 26th

Extinct or Alive Jaws of Alaska – premieres at 7 p.m. ET on Discovery

  • International wildlife biologist Forrest Galante travels the world in search of rare and elusive wildlife, including those lost to science, and mysterious cold-water sharks.

Impractical Jokers Shark Week Spectacular – world premiere at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • The Impractical Jokers are the kings of hijinx and fearlessness in the face of public humiliation but see what happens when they set out to dispel the myth that sharks are man-eating beasts the only way they know how -- with extreme, mortifying challenges and dares.

Jaws vs Kraken - world premiere at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • Something shocking is happening in the abyss around Guadalupe Island. Photos of great whites with strange scars believed to be from giant squids have surfaced. Dr. Tristan Guttridge leads a mission to get a glimpse into the battles between the two beasts.

Pigs vs Shark - world premiere at 10 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • The famous swimming pigs of the Bahamas may be in peril. Some believe that the local tiger shark population has acquired a taste for pork and may be feasting on these famous oink-sters.

Raging Bulls – world premiere at 11 p.m. ET on Discovery

  • Bull sharks are one of Australia's "Big 3" deadly shark species. Recently, there's been a shift in their behavior concerning the human population. Paul De Gelder joins Johan Gustafson to uncover why these sharks are becoming more aggressive hunters.

Wednesday, July 27th

Island of Walking Sharks - world premiere at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • Animal Planet's International wildlife conservationist and biologist Forrest Galante travels to the mysterious island of Papua New Guinea to definitively prove that sharks are evolving to walk on land.

Mechashark Love Down Under - world premiere at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • Shark expert Kina Scollay and his elite team return with a unique one-man-submersible, the Mechashark, to a top-secret location off New Zealand attempting to do something that's never been done: locate a Great White shark mating ground.

Mission Shark Dome - world premiere at 10 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • A team of shark experts re-imagine ancient diving bell technology to create a research platform they call Shark Dome. Dr. Austin Gallagher and Andre Musgrove enter the Shark Dome to allow them to free dive at depth and get closer to great white sharks than ever before.

Great White Comeback - premieres at 11 p.m. ET on Discovery

  • In 2017, one of the strangest ocean mysteries occurred in South Africa when an entire great white shark population disappeared overnight. Alison Towner and her team head out on an epic investigation to find the missing great whites of Seal Island.

Thursday, July 28th

Tracy Morgan Presents: Sharks! with Tracy Morgan - world premiere at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • Tracy Morgan teams up with shark experts throughout the country to identify the craziest and most ferocious sharks in the ocean. From rare species to stealth predators, Tracy shows off his favorite sharks and their incredible capabilities and adaptations.

Shark House - world premiere at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • When never-before-seen footage surfaces of a pack of orcas killing a great white, Dickie Chivell springs into action, building an underwater habitat called "Shark House." His mission is to live on the sea floor for seven days, looking for the last remaining great white sharks in South African waters.

Monster Mako Under the Rig - world premiere at 10 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • A team of researchers have discovered a mysterious group of mako sharks of the Gulf of Mexico who migrate around Florida and up to Rhode Island. They call these makos "mavericks." Now, the teams are trying to discover what sets them apart from other makos.

Tiger Queen – premieres at 11 p.m. ET on Discovery

  • The shark population in Turks and Caicos has a sizable concentration of female tiger sharks, leaving scientists wondering where all the males are hiding. Shark enthusiast Kinga Philipps joins Dr. Austin Gallagher to help solve this puzzling mystery.

Friday, July 29th

Jaws vs The Blob – world premiere at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • A new ocean phenomenon known as The Blob sends juvenile great white sharks straight into a feeding frenzy for monster 20ft adults off the coast of Guadalupe Island. A team of shark experts dives deep to discover if the young sharks survive or become a snack.

Clash of Killers: Great White vs Mako - world premiere at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • Scientist Dr. Riley Elliott is tracking two of the ocean's most legendary apex predators -- great whites and makos -- as they head on a collision course during their yearly migration off the coast of New Zealand.

Shark Women: Ghosted by Great Whites - world premiere at 10 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • Alison Towner has risked her life many times, tagging and studying great white migration patterns in South Africa for the past decade. Now she's assembling the next generation of shark explorers for a spectacular adventure. Together, her all-female crew will pull all the stops -- cage dive, free dive, drones, decoys, breeches, and more -- to track her missing white sharks.

The Great Hammerhead Stakeout – premieres at 11 p.m. ET on Discovery

  • Dr. Tristan Guttridge and James Glancy travel to Andros Island to investigate reports of an exclusive population of giant hammerheads. To get answers, they attempt one of the longest shark dives ever upwards of 10 hours using an underwater habitat.

Saturday, July 30th

Monsters of the Cape – world premiere at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • Shark Week Veterans, Dr. Craig O'Connell and Mark Rackley, dive into the great white-infested waters off of Cape Cod looking to test cutting-edge shark deterrents to help keep the waters of the Cape safe for both beach-goers and sharks, before it's too late.

Sharks in Paradise - world premiere at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery and discovery+

  • Shark conservationist Kinga Philipps and scientist Tristan Guttridge embark on an expedition through the remote Islands of Tahiti to investigate whether local legends and mysteries about massive sharks are true.

Shark Week: The Podcast

Starting July 18th, the magic of Shark Week kicks off with the Shark Week Podcast. Host Luke Tipple, a marine biologist and veteran shark expert, takes listeners on a dive to learn little-known shark facts leading up to the big week. Episodes during Shark Week will feature Luke who'll be joined by guests and fellow Shark Week scientists to share the behind-the-scenes scoop on what really happened out at sea this year. Fin-filled entertainment continues even after Shark Week with weekly episodes covering a wide range of the sharkiest current topics, from survivor stories to conservation work. Shark Week: The Podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all podcast apps.

Shark Week kicks off on Discovery on July 24th.

What show are you looking forward to? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

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