The final season of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown will debut later this month, CNN announced Friday.
Bourdain was in the middle of filming a season 12 episode in France when he died on June 8. He filmed episodes set in Kenya, Indonesia, West Texas, Spain and New York City’s Lower East Side, reports Broadcasting & Cable.
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CNN will also air a special on Bourdain’s influence on travel and food, and another on the relationship between Bourdain and his crew.
“We believed early on that Parts Unknown would be an exceptional series with an incomparable host and stellar production team,” Amy Entelis, executive VP, talent and content development, CNN Worldwide, said in a statement. “We are grateful to have collaborated with such an incredibly talented friend and colleague whose prolific body of work and extraordinary personality touched so many.”
The first new episode to air will be the Kenya episode, which will debut on Sept. 23 at 9 p.m. ET. W. Kamau Bell, the host of CNN’s United Shades of America, joins Bourdain on a tour through Nairobi and the Lewa Wildlife Conservatory. The series finale will be the New York City episode.
Bourdain took his own life on June 8. He was 61. Bourdain was found dead in a hotel room by his close friend, Eric Ripert, a chef set to appear in the new episode of Parts Unknown.
Parts Unknown debuted in 2013 and won five Emmys and a 2013 Peabody Award. The series is available to stream on Netflix thanks to fan outcry after his death. The show was scheduled to expire on June 16, but Netflix signed a new deal to keep the episodes up longer.
CNN also has many of the episodes available online. However, the network announced last week it pulled two episodes including Bourdain’s girlfriend, Asia Argento, following news that the actress reached a monetary settlement with actor Jimmy Bennett, who accused Argento of sexually assaulting him when he was 17. The news came as a shock to many, since Argento is one of the leading figures of the Me Too Movement, as one of the women who accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault.
Argento denied Bennett’s allegations and claimed Bourdain made the payment.
“I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett,” Argento said in a statement. “I was linked to him during several years by friendship only, which ended when, subsequent to my exposure in the Weinstein case, Bennett — who was then undergoing severe economic problems and who had previously undertaken legal actions against his own family requesting millions in damages — unexpected made an exorbitant request of money from me.”
Parts Unknown returns on Sunday, Sept. 23 at 9 p.m. ET on CNN.
Photo credit: Jason Kempin/Getty Images
