The Dark Wizard Season 1 Episode 1 (2026) - Premiere Highlights | Epic Fantasy - video Dailymotion

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🧙 The Dark Wizard (2026) - Season 1 Episode 1: "The Awakening"  In a world where magic has been forbidden for centuries, one soul is chosen to wield the power that could save—or destroy—everything. In the series premiere of The Dark Wizard, a mysterious apprentice discovers an ancient artifact, unleashing forces long thought lost. As darkness stirs and allies emerge from the shadows, the journey to master the unseen begins.  🔹 Episode Highlights: • [Hook: "A hidden tome reveals a prophecy that changes one life forever"] • World-building: a richly crafted realm where magic, politics, and destiny collide • Character introduction: the reluctant hero, the enigmatic mentor, the looming threat • Signature visual style: cinematic spell effects, atmospheric landscapes, and mythic storytelling • Cliffhanger ending that demands you watch Episode 2  🔹 Series Info: • Format: Fantasy Drama / Magical Adventure / Epic Series • Original Network: [Customize: e.g., Streaming Platform / International Syndication] • Season: 1 | Episode: 1 - Series Premiere • Theme: Power, Responsibility, Magic vs. Morality, Destiny vs. Choice • Language: English (Original Audio) + Subtitles Available • Runtime: ~45-60 minutes (full) | Clip/Highlight version: ~10-15 min  🎧 Prefer audio? Listen to fantasy series recaps & lore podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts.  👉 Enjoying the series? Hit LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and comment: "What kind of magic would YOU want to wield? 👇🧙" Turn on notifications 🔔 so you never miss the next spell!  #TheDarkWizard #TheDarkWizardS1 #FantasyDrama #MagicalAdventure #NewSeries2026 #S1E1 #EpicFantasy #BingeWatch #StreamingSeries #WizardLife #MagicAndMystery #FantasyPremiere  ⚠️ Copyright Disclaimer: This video is shared for promotional, review, and informational purposes only. All rights to "The Dark Wizard" belong to the original production company and broadcasting network. This upload complies with Fair Use guidelines (Section 107, U.S. Copyright Act). No copyright infringement intended.

Transcript

00:00:12When I was a little boy, my first memory was this dream of falling.

00:00:49I always wondered as I got older, you know, if it was some premonition of me falling to

00:00:55my death.

00:01:02But I just feel it so strongly, needing to go towards that unknown and that fear.

00:01:09I can't believe it.

00:01:39I can't believe it.

00:01:48I can't believe it.

00:02:03I can't believe it.

00:02:08Next time, don't worry so much without ears.

00:02:12I couldn't hear.

00:02:13I could just feel the touch.

00:02:14I can't believe it.

00:02:16I can't believe it.

00:02:17I can't believe it.

00:02:37I can't believe it.

00:03:00I can't believe it.

00:03:01potter for a long time i knew dean more than anyone else in the world

00:03:13and he's still like this enigma yeah let's start at the beginning

00:03:23i met dean in the west texas desert at waco tanks it was the hot climbing spot at that

00:03:30time people would spend the whole winter climbing these big boulders

00:03:37right outside the park they had this corrugated steel quonset hut i walked in

00:03:45what i noticed first was the smell of the climbers

00:03:49there were sleeping bags on the ground guys snoring and there's one dude with this big long tentpole

00:03:58with a tennis ball taped to the end when people started to snore he would whack them

00:04:04from across the room you know black black i was like wow that's alpha i guess

00:04:18so i started climbing when i was 17 in new hampshire that year i missed the maximum amount of days

00:04:24from

00:04:25school and and um would do anything to go climbing um taking my parents car without permission um you

00:04:33know wrecking my parents car without permission he had a little crew there was timmy i was this little

00:04:41wise ass from philly utterly in love with the moment we were just climbers dude we were just so it

00:04:47was so

00:04:47easy and you had jim we all came from a life that wasn't fulfilling climbing at the time was a

00:04:55way to

00:04:55put together a new reality of what life was going to be for me it was a counterculture thing i

00:05:02dropped

00:05:02out of school really early and i was playing in bands you know when i found this climbing scene

00:05:08and i was like these are my people i remember meeting dean and dean loomed right very tall like

00:05:19six six and tense sort of in your face but man he can climb most of us were just like

00:05:27having fun

00:05:28you know on the rock but dean was tapping into something very different from the beginning what

00:05:44really set him apart was his relationship with fear he was seeking out these climbs that were high

00:05:54and scary for some reason dean loved that feeling of being up there really high off the ground without

00:06:04a rope free soloing if you fall off you could die

00:06:11but when he got in a dangerous situation something in his brain would kick in and he could take the

00:06:18fear

00:06:18that he had and morph it into like superhuman strength

00:06:28in those early days it was pure he wasn't famous he was just discovering the power that he had

00:06:41slacklining is like surfing you've got to ride this huge wave

00:06:48come on next step was to take it hundreds of feet off the ground

00:06:55with a high line you're looking at will the system catch you it was all new we didn't have

00:07:00stuff that was built for highlining one two three one two three no one else is really developing the

00:07:07technical side of highlining just medium you know my close friends

00:07:12and they're not rocket scientists you think that'll hold

00:07:19system failure

00:07:23trying to walk a high line

00:07:27it fucks with your mind so hard you're tethered to the line

00:07:35but it's terrifying

00:07:40you're doing it timmy

00:07:44my hands are sweating right now thinking about it

00:07:47but dean went so deep into it

00:07:56it's all about control

00:08:00becoming the master of your mind

00:08:06controlling it

00:08:11it's all about control

00:08:12in a way dean's whole life

00:08:15life was about

00:08:16that struggle

00:08:39He used to write in journals a lot.

00:08:45He wrote about everything.

00:08:49His biggest dreams.

00:08:53But also some bizarre shit.

00:09:00If he knew we were reading these journals, he would be fucking mortified.

00:09:08Dean, who the fuck is he?

00:09:11I don't even know. Nobody does.

00:09:14I hope I don't lose my mind.

00:09:16I haven't yet.

00:09:17But there's always the possibility.

00:09:22There's so much angst.

00:09:27He's clearly in pain.

00:09:30You know, some people are blessed and some people are cursed.

00:09:36And Dean was both.

00:09:39He was cursed with a dark side that sometimes overcame him.

00:09:45There was always a struggle with his mind.

00:09:52Even when I first met him, he would get in his head, like, really down.

00:09:59And there would be times we would sit together and just have, like, more than a few beers or whatever.

00:10:04And we would literally just sit there and just cry.

00:10:09Like, fucking weep.

00:10:12Both of us were just like, what is it that's fucking stirring the shit in my head?

00:10:19We talked about everything.

00:10:23Like, deep, dark, childhood shit.

00:10:27Dean had issues with his family.

00:10:31Relationship stuff.

00:10:34I mean, he was troubled.

00:10:39And it seemed like climbing, it was the only thing that kind of kept the demons at bay, you know?

00:10:53I climbed to feel the purity of focused mind and body, unhindered by outside thoughts.

00:11:00Dean spent a lot of years living in a beat-up van.

00:11:04Got by with very little.

00:11:06The best part of climbing for me has been developing the close friendships.

00:11:13Being with people that feel the same way I do.

00:11:16Their soul is in climbing and living the alternative lifestyle.

00:11:21Don't have much money and all you want to do is climb and enjoy the beautiful sky and rock and

00:11:29world around you.

00:11:30It makes no sense to some.

00:11:33To us, it's all there is.

00:11:35It's, it's, it's our religion.

00:11:44I remember the first time going to Yosemite with Dean.

00:11:48Your face is pressed to the glass and you're looking up at the walls.

00:12:07For generations, climbers had come to the valley pushing the limits on these massive walls.

00:12:16I was writing a book about the history of Yosemite climbing, interviewing the old timers and trying to build this

00:12:23story of the lineage.

00:12:24And Dean, I don't even know if I'd ever heard of him at the time, but that was about to

00:12:29change.

00:12:33The Half Dome climb in 99 was Dean's big breakthrough thing.

00:12:40He was pioneering this entirely new way of climbing big walls, free soloing, but with a small section of rope

00:12:48tied to his back.

00:12:51This is a 2,500 foot fucking wall.

00:12:59He would climb rope-less for most of the route.

00:13:04When it got to the parts that were too sketchy for him to free solo, he would use the gear.

00:13:10You know, place a piece and he just yard on it.

00:13:14He's pulling on gear, and then he unclips back to free solo.

00:13:21Suddenly, this guy can just blitz up.

00:13:25You know, the prior speed ascent on Half Dome was something like 20 hours.

00:13:31And Dean did it in four?

00:13:35That was the moment I became aware of Dean as this paradigm-shattering talent with a totally different way of

00:13:43thinking about what was possible.

00:13:49It's in here somewhere.

00:13:54These are the Masters of Stone.

00:13:56In our era, the pinnacle of climbing entertainment was Masters of Stone.

00:14:02These classic videos with all the famous climbers, hair metal.

00:14:09Some of it was kind of cheesy, but...

00:14:14It was basically climbing porn.

00:14:17But the guy who made the films, Eric Perlman, he saw the whole thing in epic terms.

00:14:23I came out of the Vietnam War generation.

00:14:25I recognized there is something intrinsically beautiful when life is on the line.

00:14:32In the crucible of adventure sport, the spirit of man rises to a whole new level.

00:14:41That's what evolution demands of us.

00:14:44I had heard about this guy, Dean Potter.

00:14:48I thought I should reach out to him.

00:14:51By this time, his reputation had grown.

00:14:54But he was still like the underground dude.

00:14:57Dean made fun relentlessly of sponsored climbers, shamelessly self-promoting, and bringing, like, capitalist reality into our sacred climbing.

00:15:08I feel that climbers are overly influenced with the pursuit of numbers, competition, fame, and status.

00:15:15And I've left behind soul.

00:15:18Never sacrifice my soul.

00:15:21But at the same time, he was worried about his future.

00:15:24And he wasn't gonna hold down a regular job.

00:15:27And I was like, dude, you can just be a professional climber.

00:15:30You know, shoot with Eric Perlman, get some sponsorships, make a living.

00:15:38Ultimately, I think Dean recognized that telling a story was part of a way to be able to do what

00:15:47you love in this life and get paid for it.

00:15:50Action!

00:15:53And he embraced the process of making the movie.

00:16:01He brought together his development of technique, his creativity, and boldness.

00:16:10And laid it all out on the most impactful stage in all of climbing.

00:16:18El Capitan.

00:16:21Timmy doubled in as an ordinary climber on El Cap.

00:16:24We came up with this thing. Dean would pass me.

00:16:27Dean goes running past.

00:16:29What's up, dude? Don't touch me.

00:16:31Uh, don't touch me, dude, bro.

00:16:33And I give this cheese ball reaction.

00:16:37There was a certain bit of theatricality to this.

00:16:41Holy shit.

00:16:42But I had a sense that when people saw the things he was doing,

00:16:49they'd think, this guy's superhuman.

00:16:59As an athlete, Dean was the most natural performer.

00:17:05As a speaker, articulator of ideas.

00:17:09When I reached the top.

00:17:12When I reached the top, yeah.

00:17:14Hold on.

00:17:16It took a little encouragement.

00:17:17When I finally reached the top, part of me is real excited, but the rest of me is just,

00:17:22uh, yeah, fuck.

00:17:23But most of me is.

00:17:24But most of me.

00:17:25Yeah, fuck.

00:17:26I think at the outset, he was just trying to stay authentic.

00:17:31This isn't really like me at all.

00:17:33It's so different than how you normally talk.

00:17:35My job was just to coach him.

00:17:38Here I am, planted on the summit, my feet firm on the ground, checking the view, and life is good.

00:17:44You do the dialogue, and I'll just go like that.

00:17:46But here I am, standing on the top with my feet planted, and life is good.

00:17:57Masters of Stone changed Dean's life.

00:18:00All of a sudden, he went from being Dean to being Dean Potter.

00:18:05He was in the magazines, getting sponsorships.

00:18:10Up until that point, he was all about the counterculture.

00:18:13Now, he's, like, promoting brands and shit.

00:18:17At first, he didn't want to completely buy it.

00:18:22For me, the most important gear I have is something that makes my body run clean and strong.

00:18:28Adwalla, it gets the job done.

00:18:37We would give Dean a little bit of a hard time about it.

00:18:39Like, he's a soul climber.

00:18:41Climbing solely for his sponsors, right?

00:18:50Dean started to have a mystique around him.

00:18:55He was the center of this whole cast of characters in Yosemite.

00:18:59I just turned 18 when I first showed up in Yosemite.

00:19:03We were sort of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys, and Dean was a huge influence on all of us.

00:19:08Dean represented what I wanted to be.

00:19:11A badass risk-taker, bold, pushing the limits.

00:19:16I was lucky just to be in that same tribe with him.

00:19:24We call ourselves the Stone Monkeys, and we had our own call.

00:19:28We'd be like, oof, oof, oof, oof.

00:19:31We did party-style assassins of our Capitan.

00:19:33Vodka.

00:19:34A full bar.

00:19:36Ounces of weed.

00:19:37Wake and bake.

00:19:38Don't tell your mama and papa.

00:19:39We had this huge bag of mushrooms.

00:19:41I'm shaking as well.

00:19:43I'm fucking terrified.

00:19:44We're gonna set up a rope, jump out of here.

00:19:46And then we jumped off.

00:19:48Whoa!

00:19:50Oh, my God!

00:19:52Yeah!

00:19:54Fucking crazy bastards.

00:19:58El Capitan!

00:20:00It was just a feral existence.

00:20:02But this is National Park.

00:20:04There was always this, like, battle with the Rangers.

00:20:07They would come through and give us tickets and stuff.

00:20:09I don't wanna come out here and cut it down.

00:20:11Like, all the rest of us were scared of the Rangers.

00:20:13They all had guns and hats.

00:20:14But Dean was, like, not afraid.

00:20:16How are ya?

00:20:17Hi, how are you doing?

00:20:18Turn off the camera.

00:20:19Um, no thank you.

00:20:22Yeah, in the past I have been kind of combative towards the Rangers.

00:20:25My most fundamental principle is just being free.

00:20:29And, you know, I think as long as I'm not harming anybody,

00:20:33that, uh, I shouldn't be limited.

00:20:35How come you're pulling me over?

00:20:36I was just honking at you because you were in the...

00:20:38I heard he yelled right away at that.

00:20:39You were in the...

00:20:40Oh, no, I didn't, sir.

00:20:41That's a lie.

00:20:42Okay.

00:20:42I think you're harassing me.

00:20:44But, unfortunately, we're so strapped down with rules

00:20:48that I'm not allowed to be the wild, natural guy

00:20:51that, um, I think everybody should be allowed to be.

00:20:55He was a total iconoclast

00:20:57and was gonna do whatever the fuck he wanted.

00:20:59Hey!

00:21:01Maniac!

00:21:03And that became part of the myth of Dean Potter.

00:21:08As it grew and he got more recognition,

00:21:10he seemed like he was taking himself much more seriously.

00:21:15He started to believe that he could be the best climber,

00:21:20the best of all time in Yosemite.

00:21:23Dean calls and he's like,

00:21:25Timmy, I need your help.

00:21:27It's time to break the speed record on the nose of El Cap.

00:21:32Climbing 3,000 feet as fast as humanly possible.

00:21:38It's intense.

00:21:40You start the clock.

00:21:43Go sprinting up.

00:21:45Typically, you would take multiple days.

00:21:48And we're trying to do it in just a few hours.

00:21:51Dean had a special system.

00:21:54You're climbing simultaneously,

00:21:56which makes it even more dangerous.

00:21:59Once, I fell 100 feet.

00:22:02I smashed into the wall.

00:22:05And I'm like, I'm still alive. How can it be?

00:22:08And then Dean yelled,

00:22:10The system works! Go, go, go!

00:22:14I love the action of speed climbing.

00:22:17Just galloping up the rock.

00:22:19No rules. Whatever it takes.

00:22:21Just figure it out and go for it.

00:22:24You know, you break through exhaustion into that flow.

00:22:27And then all of a sudden, we're standing on top.

00:22:29And boom.

00:22:31We broke the record.

00:22:34Climbing Magazine put him on the cover.

00:22:35I was, like, down by the UPC symbol, right?

00:22:40And immediately, the record was broken by Hans Florine.

00:22:45Hans Florine was a legendary character in Yosemite speed climbing.

00:22:49You know, Mr. El Cap.

00:22:52All right, Hollywood Hans Florine.

00:22:55Woo-hoo!

00:22:55I'm well known for climbing El Cap smoking fast.

00:22:59I come from an athletic, competitive background.

00:23:02The most exciting competitor, Hans Florine.

00:23:05I wasn't like Dean and his friends.

00:23:07Cut off blue jeans.

00:23:10Like, you know, I'm in Yosemite because I hate my parents

00:23:15or because I don't care to do what society says.

00:23:19I was there because I want to be the best.

00:23:22Hans had the nose record for 10 years.

00:23:25When I heard Dean and Timmy broke our record,

00:23:27I was fucking excited.

00:23:29There's a race.

00:23:32Two weeks later, I go get the record back.

00:23:35I think this record will last for a good long time.

00:23:38After that, yeah, I think Dean got caught up in the competition.

00:23:43That's when we started to see this more aggro side of Dean.

00:23:48He couldn't keep it under control.

00:23:51So we're going again.

00:23:52And Dean could be a fucking psycho.

00:23:55We were doing the nose.

00:23:56I forgot the gear. I made this mistake.

00:23:58He's like, you just fucked us.

00:24:01We're going to lose the record.

00:24:02My second or third speed climb ever was with Dean.

00:24:06I think I had a cam stuck and he just started screaming at me.

00:24:10What the fuck are you doing?

00:24:11He's like, we're losing time.

00:24:13He was just like so intense and so driven.

00:24:16And sometimes that would kind of spill over into being a bit of a dickhead.

00:24:23So Dean and I break the record again by like 40 minutes.

00:24:28I was like, congratulations. You guys got the record. That's so awesome.

00:24:32How did you guys do it? You know?

00:24:33And I didn't get a word from Dean.

00:24:36He didn't want to face and talk to me.

00:24:40Dean and Hans continued dueling back and forth on the nose.

00:24:45Racing with Hans, it disgusted me.

00:24:48He was like this little dog humping my leg.

00:24:51I hate the fact that he wanted to just like piss on what I was doing.

00:24:58And I hate the fact that it brought out the little dog in me that would do that back.

00:25:10I forced him to show how competitive he was and shown too dark a side of him.

00:25:16Think Hans is going to be psyched to come back?

00:25:18I don't give a fuck about Hans.

00:25:20Want me to break your camera, dude?

00:25:21It's okay.

00:25:23I was just like, man, I can't believe what came out of me through competition.

00:25:27I was a real asshole.

00:25:30So I stopped myself and realized that's not who I want to be.

00:25:47Okay, we got two cameras rolling.

00:25:53Winky!

00:25:54Winky!

00:25:55Winky!

00:25:57Dean Fidelman.

00:26:00I answer to most of those.

00:26:04I've been lurking in this valley for a really long time.

00:26:07Okay.

00:26:10I was part of the Stunmasters, which was this band of young climbers that ruled in Yosemite in the 70s.

00:26:23I grew up with all these extraordinary climbers and documented them.

00:26:30We shared this dirt.

00:26:34And then they left me.

00:26:37They became captains of industry or they died or they got married or they had families and I had nothing

00:26:42like that.

00:26:44I stayed.

00:26:48I never left the dirt.

00:26:55When I first met Dean in 96, 97, he came up to me one day, he goes, why are you

00:26:59here in Yosemite? Why are you...

00:27:03You know, I go, I'm an artist. I make art.

00:27:05And I'm kind of a fuck up.

00:27:07And, you know, sort of a loser in some ways, you know?

00:27:11But I'd rather be here and sleep in the meadow and just make my photographs.

00:27:16That's what I want to do.

00:27:18He believed in me.

00:27:21When not a lot of people were believing in me.

00:27:25Bullwinkle, he's one of the guys I look up to.

00:27:30The Stunemasters, they did what they wanted and what was most cool and radical and felt good to them.

00:27:37Somewhat immune to what society thought.

00:27:43Dean definitely was driven by his ego.

00:27:47But who he wanted to be was not that super competitive sports grow kind of guy.

00:27:53He was searching for a deeper connection.

00:27:57He wanted to be part of nature.

00:28:03He identified with animals, especially with ravens.

00:28:09The raven, it was definitely a big symbol for him.

00:28:14We spent a lot of time together, making photographs, talking about art.

00:28:26Early on, I could see he was an athlete and he was an artist.

00:28:41And he needed to figure out how those two went together.

00:28:52I look up at the wall or see the space between formations.

00:28:57And I kind of get a flash or a picture.

00:29:01And I want to enter that.

00:29:04I see myself becoming one with the beauty and the nature.

00:29:09And then I live it.

00:29:19He was definitely seeking a spiritual path.

00:29:27But also wrestling with who he was and who he wanted to be.

00:29:47I dream of Stephanie.

00:29:50I miss her and wonder how she feels about me.

00:29:55My love, my love, I long for.

00:29:57That's terrible.

00:29:58Dude, so sappy.

00:30:03And action.

00:30:04My name is Steph Davis.

00:30:06I am 26 years old.

00:30:08I've been climbing for almost exactly eight years.

00:30:18Steph Davis.

00:30:20She was a really strong climber.

00:30:24Really, really driven.

00:30:28She was trying to decide whether to be a lawyer or a professional climber.

00:30:32Steph did that classic dirtbag thing of, like, dropping out of law school, living in her van.

00:30:38And she had become this badass adventurer doing huge climbs.

00:30:45I wrote a story all about how she was making her life her way.

00:30:50My profession is fairly vague, but it involves mostly just climbing a lot.

00:30:56Not only was she climbing at the highest level, but she had secured this great sponsorship with Patagonia.

00:31:04Let's see.

00:31:06I have a lot of stripes.

00:31:07There was really no one else like her at the time.

00:31:13Dean and Steph first got together in the early years.

00:31:16He loved Steph more than I've ever seen in love.

00:31:21In a lot of ways, they seemed made for each other.

00:31:25These beautiful people.

00:31:27Both top climbers.

00:31:30But there was this friction between Steph being a focused professional and Dean still being a fucking man child.

00:31:43They were always a tumultuous pair.

00:31:46Get it!

00:31:49Dean, you didn't move your left hand to the top.

00:31:51They were both very opinionated.

00:31:53That didn't matter. It was easy.

00:31:55Bullheaded.

00:31:55I know, but that makes it all easier.

00:31:59These two highly driven people, the adrenaline runs hot.

00:32:07You know, with Dean, the emotions run super hot.

00:32:14Stuff with Steph and love, that's more powerful than anything.

00:32:20He always had a really strong fear of being controlled.

00:32:29And that made relationships very hard for him.

00:32:34There were all these cycles of passionate love and then breakups.

00:32:39He would become desperate.

00:32:41Almost obsessive.

00:32:44At one point, he had broken up with Steph.

00:32:48She went down to Patagonia with another guy.

00:32:53They did all these fucking hard routes.

00:32:55Dean was infuriated and jealous.

00:32:59So, he went down there and he raged like never before.

00:33:04All right, here we go.

00:33:05He was knocking out one outrageous, cutting edge alpine climb after another.

00:33:11Totally alone.

00:33:12Oh, fuck yeah! Woo!

00:33:15He then tries to do a first ascent on Fitzroy, which is a mixture of rock and ice.

00:33:22He gets 7,000 feet to the summit.

00:33:24He brought a water bottle empty to save weight.

00:33:28So he can piss in it and then drink down.

00:33:33That's just so wrong.

00:33:34I'm gonna drink my pee.

00:33:36You don't have to do that.

00:33:38He gets to the top.

00:33:39But when he's going down, he gets smashed by a rock.

00:33:42I've hurt my head.

00:33:44Crawls the base cap.

00:33:47He definitely went beyond some boundaries.

00:33:50And I think it was all about trying to impress Steph.

00:33:58Eventually, this tumultuous pair, they sorted it.

00:34:05And against all the fucking odds, they made the decision to get married.

00:34:16I was one of the best men.

00:34:19Jim officiated.

00:34:19I just remember writing something like they kind of deserve each other.

00:34:29There was kind of an everything-coming-together quality for Dean.

00:34:34Dean and Steph had this cute little house out in Utah, out in Moab.

00:34:39They had another place in Yosemite.

00:34:41And now they're both fully sponsored by Patagonia, the classiest brand in the game in those years.

00:34:50At Patagonia, we were climbers, but also misfits and counter-cultural.

00:34:55Dean was a brilliant renegade climber.

00:34:59And he kind of delighted in breaking the rules.

00:35:03And that was a good fit with Patagonia.

00:35:06I spent 10 years heading up PR at Patagonia.

00:35:10I remember meeting Dean.

00:35:12I was in a photo shoot.

00:35:14And I called my mom.

00:35:16Like, Mom, I know what star power is now.

00:35:20He was by far the coolest ambassador.

00:35:24People just gravitate to him.

00:35:27Dean and Steph started to become famous and started to make real money.

00:35:31Stop that!

00:35:32Climbing was booming as a sport.

00:35:34And Dean really, like, rode that wave.

00:35:36There was something truly unique about Dean's game.

00:35:40It was as if he was reinventing what it meant to be a great outdoor athlete.

00:35:46He was seeing himself in a different light now.

00:35:50Really looking at his thing as performance art.

00:35:54He wanted to share with the world his artistic vision.

00:35:58From then on, we filmed everything that Dean did.

00:36:05He was on fire.

00:36:08And his sponsors were psyched.

00:36:11Especially Patagonia.

00:36:13For, like, four years,

00:36:15Dean and Steph were the poster children of everything we stood for and everything we did.

00:36:22There was no one that didn't think they were going to be with Patagonia forever.

00:36:28What am I looking at?

00:36:30The writing.

00:36:33Delicate Arch.

00:36:35May...

00:36:372006.

00:36:38Oh, fuck.

00:36:39Oh, fuck, dude.

00:36:41Are you shitting me?

00:36:45Oh, wait.

00:36:46You're wanting to talk to me about the Delicate Arch.

00:36:49I'm not dropping into that.

00:36:51Mind hole. Bullshit.

00:36:53I got really no comment, almost.

00:36:55I mean, I'll comment on it, but I have nothing to do with it, yeah.

00:36:58I really don't want to go there.

00:37:00The Delicate Arch...

00:37:03was toxic.

00:37:05Ah, shit, you got me talking about it. This is bad.

00:37:10Delicate Arch is one of the most iconic rock formations in the world.

00:37:14It's on the Utah license plate, visited by thousands of tourists every year.

00:37:20Delicate Arch seems almost too fragile to stand.

00:37:23We knew, for climbers, there was an unwritten rule that there's certain formations that you shouldn't be fucking around on.

00:37:32So we were, like, poking the bear, right?

00:37:36And Dean, being with Steph for so long, he hadn't pulled one over on the man in a minute.

00:37:42Double, double, double, double, double, double, double, double, double.

00:37:46It was this covert operation, where we sneak out in the middle of the night.

00:37:53Keep quiet.

00:37:57Got an arrow.

00:37:59This is the arrow.

00:38:01Idea is we're gonna tie a string to the arrow,

00:38:04shoot it over the top of the arch,

00:38:07Fuck.

00:38:09And then from the string, we're going to drag the rope up.

00:38:12We're going to set up a top rope.

00:38:14Now we're good.

00:38:15Yeah.

00:38:16So the Dean can rehearse this thing before soloing it.

00:38:22We go up there.

00:38:23It's got this flat platform on top.

00:38:26And we just lied there and looked up at the stars.

00:38:30I call Timmy.

00:38:31I'm on the top of Delicate Arch.

00:38:35Dean's going to climb it.

00:38:36And Timmy says,

00:38:38That sounds like a bad idea.

00:38:39Isn't that on the license plate?

00:38:41Isn't that called Delicate?

00:38:44Dean wanted to shoot this thing right at dawn.

00:38:48Eric Perlman arrives.

00:38:51Hold on.

00:38:54Sure.

00:38:57I'm rolling.

00:39:02You said it's the most beautiful thing I've ever tried to do.

00:39:05You've got to be a part of it.

00:39:15Aesthetically, it was a classic art piece on a three-dimensional canvas.

00:39:23A vision of humanity moving and flowing at one with nature.

00:39:38As Dean was climbing, these birds came out.

00:39:46And they were whirling around.

00:39:53It was more magical than any of us could have expected.

00:40:15For Dean, the experience was so profound.

00:40:20For Dean, the experience was so profound.

00:40:32I remember coming into work and our athlete manager at the time was very excited that Dean Potter had just

00:40:40climbed Delicate Arch.

00:40:41She said, I've called the media.

00:40:44And Dean gave them the footage.

00:40:47Initially, no one had any critique about it.

00:40:50Dean had done another rad feat.

00:40:52It was on the news that night.

00:40:54A rock climber who made his way to the top of Delicate Arch.

00:40:57Dean Potter is a professional climber for Patagonia.

00:41:00It's a very difficult climb.

00:41:01I wouldn't recommend it.

00:41:02But it wasn't just this puff piece.

00:41:04They were looking into regulations possibly being broken.

00:41:07Potter says he was okay to climb the arch, but park officials disagree.

00:41:12The leadership in Arches National Park got really pissed off.

00:41:17Immediately, they changed the law.

00:41:20Potter may be the last person to climb Delicate Arch because the National Park Service has new rules in effect

00:41:25right now.

00:41:26And then the shitstorm started.

00:41:30It was headlining national news.

00:41:33In the climbing community, people were pissed.

00:41:36Dean had provoked new restrictions on climbing with publicity, with his arrogance, and his assumption that he could do anything

00:41:46he wanted.

00:41:49We did not see that coming.

00:41:54I'm Tim Neville.

00:41:55I'm a correspondent with Outside Magazine.

00:41:57One of the big questions was, did he damage this hallowed rock formation?

00:42:03I decided to send a photographer out there to see.

00:42:05And he found damage.

00:42:09Grooves clearly left by a rope right where they would have been climbing and filming.

00:42:15Dean was adamant that that damage was not his.

00:42:19I respected the rock, and I left it exactly the way I found it.

00:42:25Dude, we were not the first ones on top of this thing.

00:42:28There were already these rope grooves right where he was going to climb.

00:42:33It was like the deep forensics into like the grooves and the stuff.

00:42:37And I was like, oh my gosh, this seems a little over the top.

00:42:42I do remember after the story broke, I got a one line, a two word email from Dean that said,

00:42:51you're scum.

00:42:52And you're was spelled wrong.

00:42:54And I was just like, okay.

00:42:58After that piece, this thing snowballed.

00:43:02People started going after Dean's sponsors.

00:43:05Suddenly this became about Patagonia as a supporter of acts that harm our natural places.

00:43:12People writing emails, postcards.

00:43:14I'll never buy Patagonia again.

00:43:16And it put Patagonia in a really awkward position.

00:43:20There was this effort to get Dean to make an apology.

00:43:25Just apologize and we could sweep this crap under the rug.

00:43:29And Dean responded in a Dean way.

00:43:36The big story in the climbing world these days involves the famous climber Dean Potter.

00:43:41Yeah, I was sitting in the room when he was doing the NPR interview.

00:43:44I asked him why he decided to climb the Delicate Arch.

00:43:47He goes, Winky, what should I do?

00:43:49I mean, should I apologize?

00:43:50What do I need to do here?

00:43:52And I go, no, man, let's just say fuck the man.

00:43:55Let's like quote some Edward Abbey and like throw some other shit out there.

00:43:59Fuck these people, man.

00:44:01And that was just a wrong thing to do.

00:44:04You have a sponsor, Patagonia, who wants you to apologize.

00:44:08Can you do that?

00:44:09No.

00:44:10I for sure I do have some regrets.

00:44:11And I regret the negative press that has come with my climb of the Delicate Arch.

00:44:18So it sounds like what you're most sorry about is the way this has been portrayed in the media.

00:44:23That's correct.

00:44:24I think if you just keep it factual that a man climbed up a rock and did no environmental harm,

00:44:32then I don't think that there is anything to be sorry about other than the negative energy that ensued afterward.

00:44:40Basically, I'm so sorry that the general public has its head up its ass and doesn't understand what this is

00:44:48all about.

00:44:49Definitely don't call me if you've got some sort of a media problem.

00:44:54I'm only going to make things worse.

00:45:01His livelihood was on the table, and he still didn't want to say sorry.

00:45:08He felt misunderstood in the media world and betrayed by a lot of people in the climbing community that came

00:45:15out against him.

00:45:16It came down to, are we going to stay associated with this guy?

00:45:21You know, Dean had made this public claim that his climb of Delicate Arch was performance art,

00:45:28that it represented his spiritual connection to nature, and I just didn't buy into that.

00:45:35You know, it was connected to Dean's own self-promotion, and that made it bullshit.

00:45:48The decision was made to part ways with Dean.

00:45:52The fucked thing is, they severed the relationship with Steph as well.

00:45:59Steph didn't make this plan, but they shit-canned them both.

00:46:03She had known for a while that his sort of provocateur status was problematic.

00:46:09And now he destroyed this relationship that was really important to her.

00:46:18Steph and Dean sort of started to fracture.

00:46:22Dean couldn't fucking deal.

00:46:26He just left.

00:46:30He left Steph and Moab.

00:46:33He drove to Yosemite.

00:46:38He needed to be alone.

00:46:42This was Dean going into dark mode.

00:46:48Covering his face with a blanket.

00:46:51Sleeping for days.

00:46:55And a lot of people have equated that with, like, mental health issues.

00:47:01You could call it mental illness.

00:47:03You could call it the dark side.

00:47:06But when it arrived, it was hard to deal with, hard to explain.

00:47:16Looking back, it's like, we didn't really talk about mental health.

00:47:20Especially as, like, a man in extreme sports.

00:47:24You know, you just took that stuff and you shoved it down.

00:47:29Dean and I had an understanding.

00:47:31I had been going through some of the same struggles that he had been experiencing.

00:47:38A lot of mood swings.

00:47:41Peaks, valleys.

00:47:42Peaks, valleys.

00:47:44And we started to talk about whether it was a condition.

00:47:53When Dean and Steph were solid, she had encouraged him to get some mental health care.

00:47:59He was given a prescription, went on medication.

00:48:04But he was terrified that people would find out that he was taking this drug.

00:48:11You know, he threatened me.

00:48:12Like, I will fucking kill you if you tell anyone.

00:48:18After the Delicate Arch, he stopped it.

00:48:21Cold turkey.

00:48:22So the highs became higher and the lows became much lower.

00:48:31But for Dean, the mania could be sort of a source of creative power.

00:48:43After the sadness and the isolation, the ideas would start bouncing around.

00:48:51Maybe a sketch in his journal.

00:48:57The passion would get fanned into a fire.

00:49:02All that angst and all that anger.

00:49:05This is where he drew his energy from.

00:49:11You know, I'm going to show those motherfuckers.

00:49:14I'm going to let the fucking beast out.

00:49:19That's when shit, for me, started to be scary.

00:49:28So Dean goes on this soloing bench.

00:49:33Trying to free solo all these roots that are rated 512.

00:49:41Nobody had done that in Yosemite before.

00:49:52It was balls to the wall.

00:49:54Solo this thing, the same day.

00:49:56We're driving to this point, soloing another thing.

00:50:01It was this manic energy, you know?

00:50:04And impulsiveness.

00:50:18I felt like Dean was free soloing stuff right at his physical limit.

00:50:25Like, sticking his neck out there and just trying to survive.

00:50:35I'm trying to leave this body's limitations.

00:50:39Trying to go beyond the physical and not be hindered by this carcass.

00:50:53But it's a super fine line between bringing you out of the body and breaking through to the next level

00:51:01or bringing you out of the body and you're dead.

00:51:08Right before my solos, I feel sick to my stomach.

00:51:15But I have no control.

00:51:17I'm compelled to do it.

00:51:21I don't want to live if I can't do it.

00:51:31And then there's heaven.

00:51:35Heaven was at the edge of his abilities.

00:51:44We knew that he could fall.

00:51:49You fall off that thing, you're going for thousands of feet.

00:51:55He fully said to me, he's like, if I fucking die, get the shot.

00:52:01Follow me to the ground, get the shot.

00:52:04Fucking die, he's like, I'm going to get the shot?

00:52:05No.

00:52:07Your body's getting tired.

00:52:12You're dealing with this knowledge that one mistake means your life.

00:52:23But what I've seen is when you're in those situations, you have all this amazing power inside of you.

00:52:31More power than you can even imagine.

00:52:36Yeah!

00:52:49Everyone's breathing a sigh of relief.

00:52:52Like, yeah, man, he made it.

00:52:55Dude.

00:52:57Fucking impressive, Dean.

00:53:00I was like, almost faint before I started.

00:53:02I was just like...

00:53:05This was the redemption for the arch.

00:53:09Unequivocally, that's what it was to him.

00:53:13Talksuckers.

00:53:15It was like, fuck you, doubters.

00:53:17Fuck you, sponsors.

00:53:19Fuck the park service.

00:53:21Nothing was going to hold him back.

00:53:24Make sure he's looking hung.

00:53:26Yeah.

00:53:29At that point, he thought that he had the magic cocktail.

00:53:34Part of me thinks I'm crazy, but every time you break through a limitation, it's like, fuck, I can do

00:53:41this.

00:53:42I can do anything.

00:53:43He was also smoking a lot of weed.

00:53:45Just to put that out there.

00:53:47There are a lot of people.

00:53:50Oh, man, you're eating chips again.

00:53:52Mm-hmm.

00:54:00At some point, Steph called me and said, hey, I'm worried about Dean.

00:54:04I haven't heard from him.

00:54:06Tell him to call me, please.

00:54:07I need to talk to him.

00:54:09He just shut her out.

00:54:11He was like, don't return her calls.

00:54:13It's good when you were calming Steph down today, man.

00:54:16It was awesome to have bros that could do that.

00:54:21She drove to Yosemite to find him.

00:54:24I don't know what was said, but Katie Arnold, the journalist, happened to be there.

00:54:28I was doing a piece about Dean for ESPN.

00:54:31I get to Yosemite to find Dean and Steph in the middle of some kind of really traumatic altercation and

00:54:42was like, holy shit.

00:54:44I'm witnessing the end of their marriage.

00:54:49My understanding is that, you know, he wore his wedding ring around his neck.

00:54:54He just pulled it off.

00:54:57Tossed it to her.

00:54:58He's like, I want freedom.

00:55:01I want to be free.

00:55:05You know, Steph, she's the love of my life.

00:55:10And I always thought that that was the most important thing for me was love.

00:55:18But I'm uncontrollably drawn away from the thing I thought I loved the most.

00:55:25No matter how hard Steph tried to make their relationship a place of safety and peace,

00:55:34Dean didn't want safety.

00:55:39He was willing to go places that before were just too frightening.

00:55:53That's the moment where he's untethered.

00:55:58Literally untethered.

00:56:08He was pushing the edge so far out that he took the tether off.

00:56:20He was going to die.

00:56:42He was willing to go places this time.

00:56:45Oh, my God.

00:57:21Dean was in a bad way.

00:57:25I started to realize

00:57:32his only therapy

00:57:34was the death consequence.

00:57:41Oh!

00:57:51When I'm leashless

00:57:53out on the line

00:57:57or on the rock

00:57:59free solo

00:58:03I need

00:58:04total concentration

00:58:07or I'll die.

00:58:11But somehow

00:58:12when my life's on the line

00:58:16it brings my senses

00:58:18to a heightened state

00:58:22of calmness and clarity.

00:58:28It's the most powerful feeling

00:58:31I've ever experienced.

00:58:43Woo!

00:58:49Ah!

00:58:50Ah!

00:58:51Ah!

00:59:01Ah!

00:59:04Ah!

00:59:07Ah!

00:59:09Ah!

00:59:10Ah!

The Dark Wizard Season 1 Episode 1 (2026) - Premiere Highlights | Epic Fantasy

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