Primordial Soup

16 films

2026

January 2026

On This Day... 1776

Darren Aronofsky / Primordial Soup

Ep 1 of On This Day

The Oscar-nominated director of Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan releases an AI-generated animated series on TIME's YouTube, chronicling the American…

January 2026

January 10: Common Sense

Darren Aronofsky / Primordial Soup

Ep 1 of On This Day

America's first meme is born. Thomas Paine arrives from England and, nudged by Benjamin Franklin, writes what others hesitate to say. The pamphlet sends ripples…

February 2026

January 26: The Guns of Ticonderoga

Darren Aronofsky / Primordial Soup

Ep 2 of On This Day

A bookseller makes history. To break the siege of Boston, Henry Knox hauls captured British cannon from Fort Ticonderoga across more than 300 miles of snow…

February 2026

February 22: Dreams of Doubt

Darren Aronofsky / Primordial Soup

Ep 3 of On This Day

Beneath his public decorum, Washington is plagued by doubt: an undisciplined, poorly supplied army facing professional soldiers across the harbor, and…

March 2026

March 5: Massacre Day

Darren Aronofsky / Primordial Soup

Ep 4 of On This Day

Six years to the day after the Boston Massacre, Washington undertakes a daring night maneuver to drive the British from the city.

April 2026

How France Secretly Helped America Beat Britain

Darren Aronofsky / Primordial Soup

Ep 5 of On This Day

Still reeling from the Seven Years' War, Louis XVI's court looks for a way to stab Britain in the back, and quietly takes its turn in the game.

May 2026

How Ordinary Men Were Forced Into the King's War

Darren Aronofsky / Primordial Soup

Ep 6 of On This Day

In a world where kings trade soldiers like livestock, Burkhard dreams of a quiet life with Elsa in Hesse. He says his vows, and moments later he is gone.

May 2026

Britain's Plan to End America in One Campaign

Darren Aronofsky / Primordial Soup

Ep 7 of On This Day

Britain unleashes the largest force ever sent against the colonies, 427 ships, 1,200 cannons and 32,000 soldiers, with a plan to crush the rebellion in a single…

June 2026

The Founding Fathers Were Not Ready for John Adams

Darren Aronofsky / Primordial Soup

Ep 8 of On This Day

June 5, 1776. John Adams wants to declare independence from the British Empire. The other delegates want dinner. The mutton was good, though.

June 2026

The Secret Symbol That Started a Revolution

Darren Aronofsky / Primordial Soup

Ep 9 of On This Day

Washington needs a symbol to unite a crumbling revolution and turns not to a general or a politician but to a seamstress in Philadelphia: the story of Betsy…

June 2026

Anime Battle: Thomas Jefferson vs. King George III

Darren Aronofsky / Primordial Soup

Ep 10 of On This Day

Jefferson faces his greatest opponent yet, King George III himself, bare-chested and crown on. Rendered in a bold anime style, every blow landed is an idea…

July 2026

Two Founding Fathers. One Park Bench.

Darren Aronofsky / Primordial Soup

Ep 11 of On This Day

A sketch comedy: the ghosts of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson return every Fourth of July to reckon with the country they built, the dream, the disaster and…

July 2026

He Sank His Own Ship to Win the War

Darren Aronofsky / Primordial Soup

Ep 12 of On This Day

With the Continental Army out of gunpowder, Captain Lambert Wickes has one chance to change that, and it will cost him everything: a desperate race across…

August 2026

Washington Assassination Plot

Darren Aronofsky / Primordial Soup

Ep 13 of On This Day

Washington builds the Life Guard, hand-picked soldiers sworn to protect him alone. One of them, Thomas Hickey, is secretly a paid British agent.

August 2026

The Untold Story of Harry Washington

Darren Aronofsky / Primordial Soup

Ep 14 of On This Day

Washington preaches liberty to a nation while the people enslaved on his plantation live in bondage. Harry Washington, a groomsman at Mount Vernon, watches…

September 2026

The Siren Song: A Hessian Soldier Haunted at Sea

Darren Aronofsky / Primordial Soup

Ep 15 of On This Day

In August 1776, 30,000 Hessian mercenaries cross the Atlantic to crush the Revolution. For the young soldier Burkhard, the voyage becomes a nightmare haunted by…