On the premiere of Anthony Bourdain‘s final season of CNN’s Parts Unknown, comedian W. Kamau Bell joins the late host as they explore Kenya together.
Shot earlier this year before Bourdain died of suicide at the age of 61, the show—which will have its world premiere at the Tribeca TV Festival on Sept. 22—will be the final episode that includes Bourdain’s full involvement and written narration. Six more episodes are planned to complete the upcoming 12th season, however they will be finished by the directors using Bourdain’s audio and follow-up interviews to bridge potential gaps.
The emotional trailer for the premiere shows Bell holding back tears while watching the episode for the first time.
“Everybody who had dreams of traveling with Tony, it’s exactly as cool as you think it is,” the United Shades of America host says in the exclusive clip CNN shared with PEOPLE. “He wasn’t making TV for TV’s sake. He wasn’t just doing a job. This was his life’s work.”
- RELATED: Remembering Anthony Bourdain’s Illustrious Life and Career in Photos
Bell continues: “If Tony was still alive, I would just have him here to help me process it. The greater conscious of the show and the reality and the fact that Tony’s gone is like a punch in the gut.”
“Tony has made some of the best television in the history of television,” says Bell. “I really felt like a passenger and just wanted to be present for it and I didn’t want to suck. That was my overwhelming feeling was like, don’t screw up his show.”
- RELATED: Anthony Bourdain’s Official Biography Will Be Published Next Year
Together, Bourdain and Bell traveled across Nairobi while meeting with locals and, of course, tasting and relishing the cuisine. “It’s a lot to take in,” Bell says. “It’s one of those things about his show that he did amazingly. It was a place that nobody would go to who didn’t live in that town.”
In one scene, as the pair sit on a hilltop overlooking giraffes walking across the land, Bourdain turns to Bell and says: “Seventeen f—ing years. As soon as the cameras turn off and the crew will be sitting around, we’ll be having a cocktail, I f— pinch myself. I cannot f— believe that I get to do this.”
RELATED VIDEO: Anthony Bourdain Wins Posthumous Emmys: He ‘Always Coveted’ This Award, Producer Says
Earlier this month, CNN released the first trailer for the final season, and just months after his death, Bourdain won multiple posthumous Emmy Awards at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Sunday.
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown premieres on CNN on September 23 at 9 p.m. ET.
Source: Read Full Article