Chris Hemsworth begins season 2 of Limitless with a blunt confession: “Of all of the silly issues I might have executed, this feels just like the stupidist.” The very first phrases of the return of National Geographic‘s docuseries difficult the person behind Marvel’s Thor set the tone for what follows: a journey that’s each daunting and deeply human.
When Chris Hemsworth first set out on Limitless, he was forged because the fearless guinea pig, pushing his physique and thoughts to extremes searching for science-backed longevity. However for the newly titled return of the collection, Limitless: Stay Higher Now, the journey deepens. Hemsworth is not merely testing limits; he’s trying to find which means.
“The primary season was all about pushing my bodily and psychological limits utilizing science to discover how we’d dwell longer, more healthy lives,” he recollects. “I used to be far more of a guinea pig, thrown into intense challenges with out understanding what to anticipate. However popping out of that have, I used to be left questioning not simply the right way to dwell longer, however the right way to dwell higher now.”
That query, what it means to actually dwell higher, anchors the brand new season. Throughout six international locations and a dizzying mixture of bodily, emotional, and even non secular trials, Hemsworth is joined by world-class thinkers and risk-takers who assist body the expertise. Their insights weave science, psychology, and philosophy right into a narrative that’s each cinematic and deeply human.
In getting ready this ScreenRant unique cowl story preview, I spoke with Chris Hemsworth and three of the specialists who guided him: Steph Davis, Dr. Maya Shankar, and Abby Marsh. Collectively, their reflections pull again the curtain on what went into making this season, the extremes that examined Chris, and what they hope audiences will carry with them. This piece, and the collection itself, finally explores a central theme: that residing higher now requires confronting worry, embracing connection, and discovering resilience in each physique and thoughts.
Pushing Previous Worry
Private Motivation & Mindset
Worry is the thread that ties each problem collectively in Limitless: Stay Higher Now. For Chris Hemsworth, the hardest moments weren’t all the time probably the most bodily grueling, however the ones that demanded whole vulnerability.
“I can do intense coaching, excessive chilly, fasting, all of that, however studying to play the drums was method out of my consolation zone,” he admits upon reflecting on the problem of the season’s first episode, titled “Mind Energy”, which sees Hemsworth be part of his pal Ed Sheeran on stage to carry out – with restricted preparation – in entrance of 70,000 followers. “I needed to dig deep, embrace my worry and belief that the entire working towards I had executed would repay.”
And belief me, you’ll really feel a little bit little bit of the nervousness Hemsworth does because the clock counts right down to when he needed to go on stage and set the beat for Ed Sheeran and his band. That willingness to step into the unknown displays the bigger shift Hemsworth took in season 2.
“Identical to the primary season, I attempt to take learnings from every problem and apply them to my each day life. So now, I’m surrendering a little bit extra and going with the stream, and I’ve discovered that ‘residing higher’ isn’t all the time about doing extra or pushing tougher; generally it’s about slowing down, listening extra deeply, and being okay with discomfort.”
World-class free solo climber and high wingsuit BASE jumper Steph Davis acknowledges that rigidity between worry and progress. “Worry will all the time be there, so fairly than preventing it, I attempt to anticipate it and settle for it. Worry can present vitality and motivation, and it may additionally let you recognize when you need to cease and pay attention.” For Davis, managing worry just isn’t about eliminating it however about remodeling it into gasoline.
Episode 2, titled “Threat,” sees Hemsworth try and climb a 600-foot Alpine dam within the Swiss Alps. I requested Davis the right way to strategy such intense and high-risk climbs when there is not any room for error.
“I take a brilliant pragmatic perspective towards confidence and efficiency. If I’m taking up one thing with extraordinarily excessive consequence and no room for error (for instance, climbing with out a rope), I received’t even be there except I imagine I’m over 100% ready bodily and mentally to do it safely. At that time, I objectively know I’m completely able to performing, and all I’ve to do is perform what I educated to do. I verbally inform myself to loosen up and have good emotions, and I’ll take a deep breath and smile. After that, I flip off my feelings and do what I understand how to do.”
Dr. Maya Shankar, pictured within the three photographs beneath, helped Hemsworth with preparing his brain for drumming alongside Ed Sheeran and defined to me that discomfort is greater than a facet impact of worry; it’s a signal of progress. “Discomfort is definitely a dependable sign that we’re boosting our brains in a strong method,” she says. Shankar continues:
“After we problem ourselves and are confronted with failure within the brief time period, it means we’re unlocking enhancements within the mind. Each time we fail, it’s a sign that one thing isn’t fairly working and that the mind must be reshaped. In response to failure, the mind releases a cocktail of neurochemicals that assist it modify and enhance, and after we establish what went unsuitable and the right way to do higher subsequent time, we’re honing our problem-solving expertise and psychological flexibility. In brief, failure isn’t simply okay – it’s how the mind grows.”
In different phrases, worry just isn’t one thing to beat as soon as and for all; it’s the mechanism by which we evolve.
I additionally reached out to neuroscientist Abby Marsh, who factors out that worry doesn’t simply isolate us, it may join us. “There isn’t a query that experiencing intense feelings in social setting strengthens social bonds… Feeling intense feelings collectively may end up in emotional resonance, in some instances brains actually synchronizing their exercise, that makes us really feel extra deeply related to others.”
Vulnerability, she provides, is a strong invitation: “When somebody reveals to us that they’re afraid, it may make us really feel extra related to them, as a result of being keen to be susceptible about your worry alerts that you simply belief others to need to enable you or take care of you fairly than exploit you.”
“As well as, individuals who have skilled severe challenges and hardships up to now usually tend to act to assist others, partially due to the elevated self-efficacy that outcomes from overcoming hardship and problem. Realizing you’ve been capable of deal with your self in harmful conditions earlier than provides individuals the arrogance that they may have the ability to meaningfully assist others in peril.”
In Limitless: Stay Higher Now, worry just isn’t the enemy, it’s the gateway. For Hemsworth, Davis, Shankar, and Marsh, getting into worry is the place transformation begins, whether or not it’s on a towering cliff face, within the lab, or in entrance of 70,000 individuals.
The Journey Behind the Scenes
What Chris Hemsworth and Darren Aronofsky Are Making an attempt to Obtain
The second season of Limitless With Chris Hemsworth (that was the title of season 1) unfolds as a lot in quiet reflection as in high-adrenaline set items. “Bhutan was unforgettable,” Hemsworth says once I requested him what location or second had a long-lasting impression out of the six international locations he visited over the 2 years of taking pictures. “The vitality, the stillness, the deal with happiness and concord – it was not like wherever I’ve been. It gave me time to replicate in a method I hadn’t for a very long time.”
Different moments have been far much less serene. The notorious “ache valley” sequence you will see in Limitless: Stay Higher Now required Hemsworth to endure intense bodily struggling with no preparation. “I didn’t really put together in any respect,” he defined when referring to season 2’s third and last episode titled “Ache“. He continued:
“I did not really put together in any respect. BJ Miller, the skilled I labored with on that episode, had an amazing level – with ache, we’re by no means certain when it’s going to come on or how intense it will likely be. So I had completely no thought what to anticipate or the right way to put together. So, whereas we have been doing the problem with the particular forces, I took some classes from the sooner problem I did with my mates the place we performed Jenga whereas getting electrocuted. I used to be capable of make my very own ‘ache killers’ by embracing humor within the second and camaraderie with the others going by means of the identical problem, in order that positively helped. What stunned me most was how a lot your mindset really shapes your threshold.”
That mindset shift was key in each nook of the manufacturing. “Darren’s a visionary, and from day one, we have been aligned on making this season really feel extra uncooked and human fairly than utilizing me as a guinea pig and throwing me into challenges,” Hemsworth says of re-teaming with Darren Aronofsky.
We needed to discover greater, deeper questions, whereas additionally displaying vulnerability.
Steph Davis instantly acknowledged the parallels between Hemsworth’s coaching and her personal world of maximum sports activities. “Chris’s expertise with freezing temperatures on the dam was so consultant of how issues go along with massive climbing objectives, as a result of the climate and situations are such large gamers… There are loads of completely different phases of thought and emotion you’ll transfer by means of, so there’s a psychological journey occurring concurrently the bodily one.” She provides, “Being uncomfortable is like anything, the extra you do it, the higher you get at it, and it additionally modifications your perspective on what really is snug.”
“Chris’s climb of the dam additionally gave some perception into how lengthy you spend in an intense scenario whenever you’re climbing—it’s not like a skydive or a cliff soar the place you collect up your nerve and simply soar out, and it’s over in a number of seconds. Whenever you’re climbing up a wall or a mountain, it really goes on for a really very long time, generally hours and even days. There are loads of completely different phases of thought and emotion you’ll transfer by means of, so there’s a psychological journey occurring concurrently the bodily one.”
Dr. Maya Shankar factors out that even our notion of ache will be reshaped.
“We all know from analysis that how we body a destructive expertise can alter our response to it. After we encode one thing painful as a problem that’s going to be accompanied by private progress—as in comparison with only a sheer risk—it may set off a extra adaptive biochemical response and really diminish the depth of our ache response. In different phrases, by attaching some which means to our ache, we will help make it extra tolerable.”
And Abby Marsh reminds us that none of those trials are endured in isolation. “One of many essential classes from the season is how a lot {our relationships} with others will help construct up our personal emotional resilience and well-being. After we really feel related to different individuals, it reduces our sense of ache or worry in troublesome conditions.”
Behind the spectacle of each set piece lies a continuing negotiation between preparation, discomfort, and perspective. Limitless: Stay Higher Now reveals that resilience is cast not solely within the extremes themselves, however in how Chris and the individuals round him selected to face them.
Residing Higher Now
Themes and Takeaways from Limitless Season 2
What emerges from these trials is a shared philosophy: residing higher is about stability, connection, and curiosity. Hemsworth places it merely: “I discovered that we’re able to way over we predict – not simply bodily, however emotionally and mentally. There’s an influence in getting into the unknown, particularly whenever you’re doing it for the sake of progress. I additionally realized how deeply related our our bodies and minds are.”
That perspective has shifted with time and fatherhood. “In my 20s, ‘residing higher’ may’ve meant pushing tougher or lifting extra, pondering that was higher. However now, as a father of three and somebody enthusiastic about long-term well being, it’s extra about sustainability, stability, and legacy. I need to be round for my children, not simply bodily, however emotionally. That shifts every thing.” For Hemsworth, residing higher now’s as a lot about presence as it’s efficiency.
“I hope individuals stroll away feeling empowered to make significant change.”
Hemsworth tells me that he hopes the collection conjures up audiences to make their very own modifications, massive or small. “I hope individuals stroll away feeling empowered to make significant change – and it may be one thing small, whether or not that’s choosing up a brand new pastime or reconnecting with their inner-child and embracing their sense of play and curiosity.”
Steph Davis (pictured above), free solo climber, BASE jumper, and wingsuit flyer, embodies the paradox on the coronary heart of resilience: “Climbing is about holding on, and BASE leaping is about letting go.” That stability between management and give up mirrors the present’s core lesson, as demonstrated in episode 2 the place Hemsworth endures all kinds of challenges to construct in direction of an epic climb.
Dr. Maya Shankar emphasizes that resilience begins with id. “Preserve a versatile self-identity,” she really helpful once I requested her about constructing psychological resilience from a scientific perspective.
“One factor that may make the sudden challenges in our lives so arduous is that they threaten our sense of what makes us beneficial as individuals. If in case you have a extra numerous, strong self-identity that includes many elements of who you might be, it’s going to enable you be extra resilient when a problem in your life impacts one part.”
She additionally factors to sensible instruments. “Behavioral science is a wonderful useful resource for serving to us to know the hole between our intentions and our actions.”
“Whereas we’d have massive goals for our futures, human nature usually will get in the best way of attaining our objectives. Analysis in behavioral science accounts for our psychological biases—for instance, our tendency to prioritize the current over the long run—and provides us concrete methods for working round them.”
Abby Marsh provides the scientific consensus: “An important elements of psychological well-being are having a way of goal, having robust relationships with others, and having good well being.”
Caring for others and sustaining good relationships with them is related to higher well-being in just about each analysis examine that has ever been executed.
Collectively, these views counsel that residing higher now just isn’t about escaping discomfort, however about discovering which means, stability, and pleasure in how we face it.
A Legacy of Development
Chris Hemsworth on Longevity, Legacy, & What Comes Subsequent
In the end, Limitless season 2 reframes longevity itself. “Longevity isn’t nearly residing longer, it’s additionally about residing higher and really having fun with life,” Hemsworth displays. “It’s not solely about including years to your life, it’s about including life to your years.”
It’s not solely about including years to your life, it’s about including life to your years.
That imaginative and prescient of longevity is deeply private for Hemsworth as he displays on what issues most in being there for his children. The true check just isn’t about breaking new data, however about being current for the moments that matter most, he tells me.
Steph Davis believes that threat is central to that legacy. “Understanding the right way to take threat is an important ability for everybody,” Davis emphasizes. “You’ll be able to’t keep away from threat, as a result of every thing we do carries some degree of consequence. However taking up threat, studying to handle it, doesn’t imply ‘being dangerous.'”
“Studying the right way to deal with threat will open your world and help you continue to grow and progressing. I actually like how Chris was keen to step to date out of his consolation zone and put himself on the market, doing one thing that’s inherently terrifying on a primal degree and bodily tremendous demanding, and likewise present that have to the world, and I hope it conjures up individuals to search for extra of these experiences in their very own lives.”
Abby Marsh provides that legacy just isn’t at odds with ambition. “I feel there’s a false notion on the market that ambition and connectedness to others are in some way incompatible. Nothing may very well be farther from the reality!” For her, care and compassion usually are not solely appropriate with achievement, however important to it.
Taken collectively, their voices echo the spirit of Limitless: that by means of worry, connection, and braveness, we can’t solely prolong our lives, however enrich them, residing fuller, extra intentional tales alongside the best way.
As for what comes subsequent, would Chris Hemsworth do season 3 of Limitless, and in that case, what problem(s) he would take?
“Nice query. You’ll have to attend and discover out!”
Watch the official trailer for Limitless: Stay Higher Now
Ultimately, Hemsworth’s tongue-in-cheek admission, “Of all of the silly issues I might have executed, this feels just like the stupidist,” turns into one thing greater than amusing line. It’s a reminder that progress usually begins within the uncomfortable, the intimidating, and even the absurd.
Limitless: Stay Higher Now proves that getting into these moments of worry and uncertainty just isn’t about chasing hazard for its personal sake, however about discovering what it really means to dwell higher now.
Limitless: Stay Higher Now is accessible on Disney+ and Hulu, and airs August 25, 2025 on Nationwide Geographic.
