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Explorer Josh Gates is headed back into the unknown. A new season of the reality series Expedition Unknown premieres this May on Discovery Channel. It will follow the intrepid adventurer and real-life Indiana Jones as he hunts for lost pirate treasure, works to reclaim looted art, and explores sunken tombs in Africa.  

‘Expedition Unknown’ Season 11 premieres May 24

'Expedition Unknown' host Josh Gates smiling and wearing a scarf
Josh Gates of Discovery Channel’s ‘Expedition Unknown’ | Aaron Rapoport/Corbis/Getty Images

Expedition Unknown Season 11 premieres Wednesday, May 24 at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel. 

In the eight-episode season, Gates will indulge his insatiable curiosity as he crisscrosses the globe, visiting intriguing sites on five continents. 

“Flooded pyramids, pirate treasure, lost temples, Biblical mysteries, vanished aircraft… On May 24th, the adventure continues!” Gates teased on Instagram. 

Josh Gates searches for a lost Biblical town and explores a buried temple in Cambodia 

On this season of Expedition Unknown, Gates will travel to Israel, where he connects with two teams of researchers. Each group believes they’ve found Bethsaida, a lost Biblical town on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The village is said to be the place where Jesus performed several of his miracles, including walking on water and feeding thousands with just five loaves to two fish.

Gates will also travel to the U.K., where he searches icy waters for a pirate’s treasure. Back in North America, he’ll comb the floor of Lake Superior for mysteriously vanished World War I minesweepers. And in Cambodia, he’ll work to unearth a long-buried temple while also joining the fight to bring looted Khmer Empire treasures back home. 

In an Instagram post from December 2022, Gates teased his visit to Cambodia.  

“Ancient moats surround many of Cambodia’s stunning Khmer temples,” he wrote. “Long abandoned, these spiritual reservoirs are filled with snakes, mud, and perhaps historic treasures submerged for a thousand years. Let’s see what’s down there! In another Instagram post, he shared photos from his early-morning visit to Bayon Temple, a less-visited site not far from the more well-known Angkor Wat.

The two-part season premiere features one of the most terrifying moments of Josh Gates’ career 

Four ancient pyramids at Nuri, in Sudan
Pyramids at Nuri in Sudan | DeAgostini/Getty Images
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Every Expedition Unknown adventure is exciting. But none compare to the excursion featured in the season premiere. In the two-part episode, Gates heads to Sudan to visit the Royal Necropolis of Nuri. Once there, he joins forces with archaeologists on the verge of a discovery that could be groundbreaking. The team believes an undiscovered royal tomb hidden beneath a crumbling pyramid could contain the mummified remains of an ancient king. But accessing the tomb won’t be easy, as it is submerged in a flooded, subterranean chamber. 

“I am stressed,” Gates says in a teaser as he prepares to make his dive (via Twitter). “This is like the most dangerous diving you could do.” 

“I am nervous,” he adds, before correcting himself. “That’s not true. I am scared.” 

It seems that Gates was right to be apprehensive, as he struggles to get his bearings and find his line during the low-visibility dive. 

“I can’t see a thing,” he says as the rest of the team debates how to respond to the situation.

“Do we send a team in? What do we do?” one asks. 

How will Gates get out of this tricky situation? Find out what happens when Expedition Unknown premieres later this month.  

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