The trailer for the final season of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown just dropped, and prepare to cry

By Meaghankirby

September 17, 2018

By Meaghankirby

September 17, 2018

The trailer for the first of the final six episodes of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown has been released, and it’s emotional.

The twelfth season of Parts Unknown was in the middle of production when Bourdain died by suicide earlier this summer, leaving six already-shot episodes in various stages of post-production. However, only the first episode was fully completed at the time of his death—making it the last episode to be narrated by Bourdain. In the episode, Bourdain is joined by fellow CNN host and comedian W. Kamau Bell on a trip to Kenya, exploring the country’s stunning landscape, animals, and, of course, the food.

While footage of Bourdain and Bell’s trip through Kenya is woven throughout the trailer, much of the footage entails Bell reflecting on the magic of traveling with Bourdain. “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, like ‘do not screw up his show.’ Everybody who had dreams of traveling with Tony, it’s exactly as cool as you think it is,” Bell says in the trailer.

During one of the most bittersweet moments, Bourdain reveals to Bell that—after nearly two decades of traveling the world for television—he was still in awe of the opportunities his career afforded him. “Seventeen f-cking years. As soon as the cameras turn off and the crew will be sitting around, we’ll be having a cocktail. I fucking pinch myself,” Bourdain said. “I cannot f-cking believe that I get to do this.”

“He wasn’t making TV for TV’s sake, he wasn’t doing a job, this was his life’s work," Bell said in the trailer, reflecting on Bourdain's legacy. "If Tony were still alive, I would just have him here to help me process it. The greater context of the show, and the reality and the fact that Tony's gone makes that a—it's like a punch in the gut."