NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC GREENLIGHTS THIRD SEASON OF AWARD-WINNING SERIES, "TRAFFICKED WITH MARIANA VAN ZELLER"

Season Pick-Up Comes Ahead of the Emmy(R)-Nominated Docuseries' Sophomore Season Premiere on Dec. 1, 2021, at 9 P.M. ET/PT on National Geographic, And Will Be Streaming Next Day on Hulu

Season Two Takes van Zeller Even Deeper Into the Underworld ... But the Deeper She Goes, the Darker It Gets As She Infiltrates the Worlds of Black Market Plastic Surgery, Romance Scams, White Supremacy, Stolen Cars, Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs, Marijuana and Meth

(WASHINGTON, D.C. - Aug. 18, 2021) National Geographic announced today the greenlight of the third season of Emmy-nominated TRAFFICKED WITH MARIANA VAN ZELLER ahead of the winter premiere of the docuseries' second season bow on Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on National Geographic. Episodes will also be streaming the next day on Hulu, and filming for the third season will begin this fall.

"Filming a whole season of TRAFFICKED during a global pandemic was extremely challenging, but there's been an explosion of black markets over the past year, and I think we all quickly realized that this series has become more relevant than ever," said van Zeller. "With this second season, we've managed to dive even deeper and gain even more access into underworld networks around the world."

Peabody and duPont Award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller continues her harrowing exploration into the underworld's most dangerous black markets. Armed with National Geographic's trademark inside access, each episode follows van Zeller as she works her way inside a different black market or global trafficking network where she meets the players and learns the business, all in an effort to understand the inner workings of the world's multitrillion-dollar shadow economy.

The 10-part second season of TRAFFICKED WITH MARIANA VAN ZELLER offers viewers a mission-driven adventure to places rarely seen, providing an intimate peek behind the curtain to provide a 360-degree view of these poorly understood trafficking networks. Topics this season include van Zeller unveiling the inner workings of romance scams; following a meth superhighway, from a massive cartel-run lab in Sinaloa across the border and into the lives of American users; setting off on a wild journey through California's black market for weed, which has mushroomed since marijuana legalization four years ago; following a smuggling route of cars stolen from the U.S. to shipping containers bound for West Africa, where the demand is skyrocketing; going inside the secretive world of outlaw motorcycle gangs, also known as 1% clubs, where her interest is piqued by a string of biker-related violence; and investigating the dark corners of black market plastic surgery, where greed and social media are driving patients toward deadly motel-room operations.

Additionally, as America struggles to reckon with its white supremacist past, van Zeller races to expose an underground movement hellbent on an even more violent white supremacist future. It's a movement that trades in ideologies as dangerous as any narcotic or firearm, with one responsible for mass killings around the globe.

Season one of TRAFFICKED WITH MARIANA VAN ZELLER was a 2021 Gracie Award winner for Best Reporter/Correspondent - Mariana van Zeller and received a 2021 Critics Choice Real TV Award nomination for Best Crime/Justice Show. The series was also recently nominated for a 2021 News and Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Business and Economic Documentary.

TRAFFICKED WITH MARIANA VAN ZELLER is produced for National Geographic by Muck Media. From Muck Media, executive producers are Mariana van Zeller, Darren Foster and Jeff Plunkett. From National Geographic, Bengt Anderson is executive producer, Matt Renner is vice president of Production, and Alan Eyres is senior vice president of Production and Development.

For more information, visit our press room at www.natgeotvpressroom.com and follow @NGC_PR on Twitter.

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