Fans were shocked to find out that Keanu Reeves made a surprise appearance in Netflix's Ancient Apocalypse.
The latest season of the Netflix docuseries, hosted again by pseudoarchaeologist Graham Hancock, centers on popular theories surrounding an ancient advanced civilization supposedly wiped out by the last ice age.
Hancock's work on projects like Ancient Apocalypse has earned him a reputation among the scientific community, as experts look down on his continued studies.
Why Was Keanu Reeves in Ancient Apocalypse Season 2?
Renowned actor Keanu Reeves appeared in the second season of the highly controversial streaming show Ancient Apocalypse.
In three episodes of Season 2, Reeves joined host Graham Hancock on his journey across New Mexico, Peru, and Brazil as the longtime pseudoarchaeologist sought continued proof of an apocalyptic event that may have wiped an advanced civilization off the Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Fans have been shocked to see the John Wick actor participate in such a controversy-riddled TV project, yet there he was, showing his support for Hancock's research.
Posting about Reeves' role in Season 2, Hancock took to X (formerly Twitter), writing, "Hugely grateful to Keanu Reeves" for "stand[ing] by me in so public a way risks the hatred of archaeologist zealots:"
"Hugely grateful to Keanu Reeves. To stand by me in so public a way risks the hatred of archaeologist zealots who believe that only they have the right to interpret the past and who leverage the media to vilify alternative voices. Season 2 launches 16 Oct."
Reeves has proven he is not averse to open-minded thinking, making his appearance on Ancient Apocalypse unsurprising. He has previously expressed a fervent passion for exchanging ideas among people and practices Buddhism.
This propensity for differing ideas likely drew Reeves to Hancock and his studies.
In a conversation with scholar Lex Fridman on his video podcast, Hancock continued to applaud Reeves for his openness to his ideas.
The Ancient Apocalypse host posited that "Keanu is genuinely curious about the past and very, very interested in it," and that is why the pair got along:
"Keanu is genuinely curious about the past and very, very interested in it. And he's bringing to it questions that everybody brings to the past. He's speaking for every man in the series."
He said that his pseudoarchaeology work is controversial among the scientific community, and people like Reeves are helping to potentially legitimize his studies.
"Some archeologists feel very territorial about their profession," Hancock remarked, adding, "They do not feel happy about outsiders entering their realm:"
"I can't speak of all archeologists, but some archeologists feel very territorial about their profession, and they do not feel happy about outsiders entering their realm, especially if those outsiders have a large platform. And that's why I found that the attacks on me by archeologists have increased step with the increase of my exposure."
He then said the scientific community sees his series as "the most dangerous show on Netflix," but he believes "there are many more dangerous things in the world than a television series:"
"That is why 'Ancient Apocalypse' Season 1 was defined as the most dangerous show on Netflix. It's why the Society for American Archeology wrote an open letter to Netflix asking Netflix to reclassify the series as science fiction. It's why they accused the series of antisemitism, misogyny, white supremacism, and a whole, I don't know, a whole bunch of other things like that. It has nothing to do with anything that's in the series. It was like, we must shut this down. This is so dangerous to us. Is it certainly not a danger, there are many more dangerous things in the world than a television series going on right now."
Hancock admitted that he thinks "they feel that they should be the ones who are getting the global attention," hence why they want to shut him down:
"I think that they feel that they should be the ones who are getting the global attention and that it's not right that I am. And that the best way to stop that is to stop me, to shut me down, to get me canceled, and basically require Netflix to relabel my series from a documentary to a science fiction, which is what they actually had the temerity to suggest to Netflix. That would, if that had gone through, if Netflix had listened to them, that would've effectively been the cancellation of my documentary series."
While the involvement of someone of Keanu Reeves' stature will likely do little to win over his doubters, Hancock remains adamant that knowing someone as big as Reeves shares his ideas has helped him keep his head up.
Reeves can next be seen in 2025's Ballerina (read more about Ballerina here).
Ancient Apocalypse Season 2 is streaming on Netflix.
