Starring a game-for-it Chris Hemsworth, co-created by executive producer Darren Aronofsky, and in association with Nat Geo, the new season of Limitless on Disney+ has Hems confronting the nature of pain, fear, and cognitive decline. Each episode of Limitless features first-person segments with Hemsworth and breakaways to explainers as he applies current scientific thinking to his quest for longevity. Or as he puts it, “discovering three powerful secrets to living better right now.” Obviously the fabulously wealthy A-list movie star is already living better than most of us, and Limitless can sometimes feel like a vanity project. But Hemsworth also proves willing to be embarrassed on camera. Like in the first episode, for example. “Of all the stupid things I could’ve done, this feels like the stupidest…”
Opening Shot: A cheering crowd. A huge stadium show. It’s Ed Sheeran performing, and he’s introducing a new member of his band.
The Gist: Two months ago, Sheeran explains to the audience, Chris Hemsworth had never played an instrument in his life. But now he’s on stage, behind the drum kit, in front of 70,000 of Ed’s fans, preparing to accompany his mate on “Thinking Out Loud.” It’s all part of Hemsworth’s quest to study brain power, and experience how learning a new skill can strengthen cognitive pathways. Which sounds pretty enriching in theory, until you gotta do it. Count it off, Thor.
In one of Limitless’s frequent confessional cutaways, Hemsworth describes how terrified he was feeling in that moment. And we also travel back to where it all started, as the actor meets with cognitive scientist Maya Shankar, who runs a few acuity tests with him as she explains how after 40, our brains start shrinking, and losing percentages of memory and capacity. The practice of learning a musical instrument challenges the brain to boost its “cognitive reserves,” a process Limitless illustrates with colorfully animated segments narrated by Hemsworth.
After landing on drums as his instrument of choice – two sides of the brain controlling four limbs independently; take that, Hemsworth visual, auditory, and motor cortices – we repair to Ed Sheeran’s home recording studio, because when you’re a celeb trying new things you call on other celebs for help. And what becomes clear very quickly is how much Hems sucks at drumming. But it’s seven weeks to the Sheeran concert he’s supposed to play at, so it’s time to start putting in work. “Try and hit on the one and three with the kick,” Ed says, and chuckles at the inept result.
The brain power challenge will also rope in Ben Gordon, Hemsworth’s buddy from back home who plays drums in the Australian metal band Parkway Drive. (In his own cutaways, Gordon describes how hard a slow song like Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” is to play well.) And on the advice of Dr. Shankar, Hemsworth also visits with the acrobats of Cirque du Soleil for a crash course in the learning technique known as “Chunking.” Hemsworth has 7 weeks to become a drummer. But his challenges don’t end there. Later episodes of Limitless will find him scaling a monstrous rock wall in Switzerland – facing down risk and fear – and training with South Korean special forces units in a direct confrontation with pain.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Is there a name for the genre this series is trucking in? Maybe “Celebrity Experientalism.” Besides the first season of Limitless back in 2022, there is Planet Sex with Cara Delevingne, Jason Momoa’s On the Roam, and more celebs with cycles in Ewan McGregor’s Long Way Round.
Our Take: In the first episode of Limitless, even with Ed Sheeran around, and the guy from Parkway Drive, and Dr. Shankar, the spotlight is always on Chris Hemsworth. His baby blues glinting in the confessionals, his easy banter with the Cirque du Soleil performers – when the series isn’t delivering fast facts about brains and longevity, it’s framing what a joy it’s supposed to be to hang with Hems. And it can kind of get lost in that, dropping into montages showing off all the things a movie star is doing when he should be practicing his drumming. Whenever this happens, the idea creeps in that Limitless might really be about low-stakes exposure for the actor between his higher profile projects.
At the same time though, Hemsworth could’ve done more Ray-Ban ads or just narrated a bunch of nature docs if he wanted to easily stay in the public eye. Despite the growing frequency of first-person experiential shows such as this, there are certainly many A-listers like him who would never submit to this much scrutiny, in environments not fully in their control. (Most of them, we suspect.) And Hemsworth does appear genuinely interested in the nature of human longevity. At one point he mentions his age – early 40s – and how it got him thinking about cognitive health as much as he already obsesses over physical fitness. So maybe there’s a bit of celebrity existential terror running beneath the experience in Limitless. Like, even if you’re Chris Hemsworth, how long can you actually keep being Chris Hemsworth?
Sex and Skin: When Hems does practice his drums, he’s occasionally shirtless.
Parting Shot: “Next time,” Chris Hemsworth tells us in his Limitless voiceover, “I travel to South Korea to unlock the secrets to overcoming pain.”
Sleeper Star: Cognitive scientist, podcast host, and former Obama administration science advisor Maya Shankar brings a lot of presence to Limitless as she explains brain activity to Hemsworth. “Every part is being activated simultaneously when you’re learning a musical instrument – a lot of bang for your brain buck.”
Most Pilot-y Line: Chris Hemsworth sets up the new season of Limitless with a “Yep, that’s me” record scratch moment: “I basically have no musical talent. So how did I end up playing drums with one of the biggest pop stars in the world? It’s the first challenge on a journey that will take me all over the world…”
Our Call: Stream It. Chris Hemsworth is personally engaging and does seem genuinely engaged as he undertakes a new round of mental and physical challenges in Limitless: Live Better Now.
Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.