Season 4, Teaser: Will: What Is He Good For? - The First Folio

Shakespeare’s death in 1616 could have meant the loss of his words forever. Many of his plays existed only in fragile manuscripts and cheap, error-filled quartos. Then, seven years later, two of his fellow actors—John Heminges and Henry Condell—took on the monumental task of preserving their friend’s work.

Their project became the First Folio of 1623: the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays. Without it, we would have no Macbeth, no Twelfth Night, no The Tempest. With it, Shakespeare’s reputation leapt from playwright of his time to literary giant for all time.

Season 4 of Will: What Is He Good For? uncovers the story of the First Folio: how it was assembled, why it mattered, and how one book turned Shakespeare into a legend whose words continue to shape our world four centuries later.