Jane Goodall Instills Hope in the World With Final Interview on 'Famous Last Words'
"Even today, when the planet is dark, there still is hope," she said.
Published Oct. 6 2025, 10:32 a.m. ET
Before world-renowned anthropologist and primatologist Jane Goodall died on Oct. 1, 2025, she gave her final interview with the Netflix show Famous Last Words. The show features interviews with notable individuals in different fields and levels of fame, but the interviews are only shared after the individual has died. Thus, the title of the show.
But what does Jane Goodall's final interview say about her thoughts on the world and the state of the country in the United States? Her episode, which premiered as the first episode of Famous Last Words, dropped on Oct. 4, 2025. And there are several takeaways that feel even more meaningful after Jane died.
Jane Goodall's final interview took place months before her death.
In Famous Last Words, Jane talks about her life, her thoughts on world events, and her hope for the world she would, a few months later, leave behind. Jane talks about sending high-profile world leaders and billionaires on one of Elon Musk's spaceships to get them off the planet. She even says, "Trump and some of Trump's real supporters" would be on that spaceship, if it were up to her.
She also jokes about the fictional character Tarzan's wife, Jane, being a "wimp." But, perhaps most importantly, during the final moments of the episode and Jane's final major interview, she talks to the camera and urges the world to see hope in the future.
"Don't lose hope. If you lose hope, you become apathetic and do nothing," Jane says in the episode. "And if you want to save what is still beautiful in this world, if you want to save the planet for the future generations, your grandchildren, their grandchildren, then think about the actions you take each day. Because, multiplied a million, a billion times, even small actions will make for great change."
According to Netflix, Jane's interview with Famous Last Words was filmed in March 2025. Jane was aware that the interview would not be released until after her death, which might be why she was so candid in her thoughts on the world and about key people, like Elon and Trump. Netflix also reported that, through her final interview with the show, Jane was able to reveal some hard truths that she had never before shared out loud.
What was Jane Goodall's cause of death?
Jane was 91 at the time of her death. Per the Jane Goodall Institute, Jane died of natural causes. She was in California and had been in the middle of a speaking tour when she died on Oct. 1. Jane's official Facebook page shared the news of her death with a notice from the Jane Goodall Institute that the lifelong researcher "died peacefully in her sleep."
Jane Goodall with grandchildren Merlin van Lawick and Angel van Lawick at the JGI Tanzania office in Dar es Salaam
The organization also set up a donation portal on its website to help "keep Jane's vision moving forward and the future she believed is possible." She is survived by her son, Hugo Eric Louis van Lawick, and her three grandchildren, Angel, Nick, and Merlin.