This week, Point of Inquiry is delighted to welcome Ann Druyan, co-writer and co-creator of both the original Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, starring her late husband Carl Sagan, as well as the new series, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, starring Neil deGrasse Tyson.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Druyan talks to Josh Zepps about how the first Cosmos series came to be, her efforts to translate the majesty of science into relatable and accessible storytelling, and how we’ve progressed toward making a more reasonable and humane society. We also get a little bit of insight into what it was like to get to know Carl Sagan for the first time.

Ann Druyan co-wrote with Sagan the books Comet, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, and sections of The Demon-Haunted World. Their twenty-year professional collaboration also included NASA’s Voyager Interstellar Message (the famous “Golden Record” aboard the Voyager spacecraft) along with many articles, speeches, and other written works. She is co-founder and CEO of Cosmos Studios, as well as Program Director of Cosmos 1, the first solar sailing spacecraft mission.

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey premiered March 9, 2014 simultaneously in the US across ten FOX networks in 125 countries, and on National Geographic networks in 180 countries, making it the largest global launch of a TV series in history.