Rob Delaney, Tim Blake Nelson and John Douglas Thompson are fronting a new video podcast book club series that takes on four of the most formidable titles in the Western canon. The series, called Exploring The Greats, comes from Vespucci — a media company based in Los Angeles, New York and London — and launched on 30 July 2026, according to Deadline.

Each book gets its own weekly video podcast series, filmed and released as a standalone run. Episode counts range widely: from five episodes at the short end to 38 at the long end, per Deadline. The four opening titles are The Odyssey, Moby-Dick, Plato's Republic and Shakespeare's Othello.

The pairings are where the format gets interesting. Delaney explores Moby-Dick with Professor Hester Blum of Washington University in St. Louis — and recorded his segments at Herman Melville's former residence. Tim Blake Nelson takes on Plato's Republic with philosopher Agnes Callard of the University of Chicago. John Douglas Thompson, a celebrated stage actor, tackles Othello alongside Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro of Columbia University.

The Odyssey installment is hosted by Mary Beard and Charlotte Higgins. Beard is a Cambridge classicist and chair of the 2026 Booker Prize jury; Higgins is the chief culture writer at The Guardian. The pair previously hosted Vespucci's 38-part series on The Odyssey, called Instant Classics — so their new run is, in effect, a return to a text they have already spent considerable time with on the same platform.

Episodes are available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

Vespucci, co-founded by Johnny Galvin and Daniel Turcan, has produced more than 30 podcasts in partnership with Audible, Apple, Spotify, Wondery, iHeart, the BBC and Sony. Its talent roster includes Will Arnett, Elle Fanning, Steve Buscemi and Emilia Clarke. The company describes itself as standing "at the nexus of journalism and entertainment," per its corporate site at vespuccigroup.com.

The Deadline report includes original quotes from Delaney and from Galvin and Turcan, indicating the story originates from a Vespucci press announcement. An earlier Instagram post from April 2026 teased the series under the heading "Summer Book Club," crediting direction to Vespucci and camera work to B. Warburton — consistent with the on-screen credits from Instant Classics, where Warburton served as Director of Photography and Jonty Claypole as producer, per the show's Apple Podcasts listing.

What makes the format stand out is the scale. A five-episode run is standard for a podcast mini-series; a 38-episode deep dive on a single ancient epic is not. Vespucci is betting that audiences will follow a single book across weeks of filmed conversation — not a summary or a review, but a sustained read.

For listeners, that means a book club where the hosts and their academic guests are doing the reading alongside you, episode by episode, across the three biggest podcast platforms and YouTube.