Eugene Levy is ‘The Reluctant Traveler’ on Apple TV+
Given the choice, Eugene Levy would just as soon not travel.
He’s not a fan of the airport experience and having his belongings spread out into security-line bins, nor is he interested in the whole idea of sightseeing or going off the beaten path. He’d rather sit on a beach or by a pool, sip a pina colada and relax.
So when he was approached to do a travel series originally about hotels for Apple TV+, he thought they had the wrong man. That is, until they let him do it from his less-than-enthused perspective. And thus, “The Reluctant Traveler” was born.
Premiering Friday, Feb. 24, the half-hour series takes the “Schitt’s Creek” and “SCTV” actor to some of the world’s most beautiful and intriguing destinations to explore unusual and exotic hotels and the places, cultures and people surrounding them.
So in the eight episodes, Levy takes in the sights, sounds, activities and food of Finland, Costa Rica, Utah, Italy, Japan, the Maldives, Portugal and South Africa while also stepping out of his comfort zone and facing fears, all in the name of expanding his horizons.
“I truly am not a great traveler,” explains Levy, who is also an executive producer here. “(I) don’t really love it and I have a very low sense curiosity and no real sense of adventure as a person . ... This show is really pulling me out of a comfort zone that I was
getting far too comfortable in, and luckily at this point in my life I’m glad I have it because it’s never too late to become a more enlightened, a more interesting and a better person.”
In the series opener, Levy heads to Finland, where he goes dog-sledding on a frozen lake, tries his hand at ice fishing and does a vodka tasting. He also dons a dry suit to go ice-floating, an activity he found himself enjoying. Reluctantly.
“That’s an experience I don’t think I would have ever done,” he says. “But it was such an amazing experience once I hit the water that I found myself laughing out loud because it’s the most soothing, relaxing, not to mention the warmest I’d been since I was in Finland in that suit. It’s so still and serene, it was absolutely amazing.”