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'The Last Dance' Finale Edited Remotely Due to COVID-19 Diagnoses at Facility
May 18, 2020
ESPN's 10-part The Last Dance documentary series concluded with Episodes 9 and 10 airing Sunday night.
Director Jason Hehir disclosed to the Los Angeles Times' Arash Markazi that the final two episodes were completed remotely during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic:
Arash Markazi @ArashMarkaziJason Hehir and his team of five editors had to finish the final episodes of the documentary from their New York apartments because two employees at their editing facility tested positive for COVID-19. The final two episodes, which will air Sunday, were done remotely. https://t.co/p2rvaIvn42
Markazi noted that the 43-year-old conducted 106 interviews for The Last Dance. All of that material needed to be edited together quicker than expected as ESPN fast-tracked the documentary to air from April 19 through Sunday rather than beginning in June as originally planned.
"On Jan. 1, 2020, we had zero episodes completed," Hehir said. "That went up to three episodes by March 16 when everything shut down."
Based on the 5.8 million viewers averaged across the first six episodes, The Last Dance didn't suffer from altered production.
The Last Dance revisited the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls team led by Michael Jordan and key events leading up to that year. The season culminated in a sixth and final championship for the Jordan-led Bulls dynasty of the 1990s.
