HBO Max plans new wellness show based on Calm meditation app

WarnerMedia's HBO Max streaming service has announced plans to launch its first health and wellness project, one called A World of Calm. The original series will be based on the meditation app Calm; celebrities like Idris Elba are on board to voice each episode. The show is intended to help viewers relax using a combination of calming footage, music, and 'scientifically-engineered' narratives.A World of Calm is a non-fiction show, obviously; it will feature 30-minute episodes designed to present 'an immersive visual journey,' according to WarnerMedia, which has teamed up with Nutopia and Calm App to launch the show. Many celebrities will voice the narratives, including Lucy Liu, Mahershala Ali, Oscar Isaac, Nicole Kidman, Keanu Reeves, and others.

Nutopia is the company behind One Strange Rock on National Geographic. Working together, the companies will release 10 episodes of A World of Calm, WarnerMedia said on Thursday. The show will be specifically based on Calm's "Sleep Stories," which are described as bedtime stories intended for adults.

Each episode will likewise feature a story — one intended to be relaxing and to help the viewer feel calm. Several people are attached to the series as executive producers, including Michael Acton Smith, Jane Root, Nicola Moody, and Chris Advansun.

It's unclear when HBO Max will debut the upcoming series; it likewise wasn't specified whether these 10 episodes will comprise the first season or will be the total run of the project. Nutopia founder Jane Root said:

Although this collaboration has been in the works for many months, this series has been entirely created during quarantine using Nutopia's worldwide network of award-winning cinematographers and filmmakers. We hope this series of serene stories will bring a sense of much needed calm to audiences.