Shark Week 2026 returns, Ken Jeong opens the lineup

Discovery Channel’s 38th Shark Week opens Sunday, July 26 and runs seven nights through Saturday, August 1 with twenty new programs across Discovery Channel, Discovery+ and HBO Max. Ken Jeong and singer Rei Ami front the opener, a crossover special titled KPop Shark Heroes that ties into Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters; the article notes that KPop Demon Hunters became Netflix’s most-watched film, won two Academy Awards, and earned the first Grammy for a K-pop track. Rei Ami performed the actual dives, descending in cages and free diving among hammerheads, reef sharks and bull sharks off the Korean peninsula; Ken Jeong stayed on the boat and provided voicework and on-camera hosting. Discovery frames the special around conservation and real shark encounters, and Rei Ami told the Associated Press that Shark Week is entertaining and thrilling but at its core very educational. The casting choice reflects Discovery’s strategy of importing the glossy aesthetic and cultural momentum of a streaming hit rather than hiring a traditional marine-science marquee name; a primary host for the week has not been named. The week’s lineup also includes record-dive spectacles and great-white forensics alongside the pop-infused opener.