Shark Week 2016 Premiere Date Released In New Promo Video; When Will Discovery Channel Series Return This Summer?

Get ready to sink your teeth into another jawsome season of Shark Week! The weeklong Discovery Channel phenomenon will make a splash on your small screen once again this summer when the fishy drama returns with its 29th installment.

According to the first released trailer for the upcoming Shark Week series, the 2016 season will breach audience’s TV sets Saturday, June 26, and will run through July 3. But that’s not all that was revealed in the salty promo video.

In the 30-second trailer, fans saw a mythical side of Shark Week when a man starring in the promo is tossed off his raft and dragged down to the bottom of the ocean. Throughout his underwater adventure, he witnesses a carnival-like world filled with toothy creatures jumping through flaming hoops, shark explosions and even a mermaid! Is this network’s subtle way of telling viewers that they can anticipate a theatrical season?

During the 2015 TV Critics Association Winter Press Tour, President Rich Ross, who joined the network two months prior, divulged that Discovery Channel would stray from producing over-the-top content like “Mermaids” and mockumentaries on megalodons.

“It’s not whether I’m a fan of it,” Ross said. “I don’t think it’s right for Discovery Channel, and think it’s something that has run its course. They’ve done very well… but I don’t think it’s something that’s right for us.”

He continued to state that it’s “mandatory” when telling stories to the Discovery Channel audience that the programs deliver information that is both true and also entertaining.

So, maybe viewers won’t be reuniting with the controversial 60-foot monster after all. But, according to Deadline, audiences can expect sharks to faceoff against “dolphins, seals, crocodiles” (and maybe some humans too) in the upcoming Shark Week installment.

Discovery Channel's Shark Week will premiere Saturday, June 26.