Chris Hemsworth, known for physically demanding roles in movies like Thor, Extraction, and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, recently faced an unexpected personal challenge when his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
In “Chris Hemsworth: A Road Trip to Remember,” released on Disney+ and Hulu on November 24, 2025, the actor shares details about this familial struggle and the ways he and his father are dealing with the illness.
The documentary, produced with National Geographic, follows Chris and his father Craig as they embark on a road trip across Australia, aiming to use the journey as a form of reminiscence therapy.
At the beginning of the series, Chris reveals that his father is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, with symptoms appearing over the last two years.
“It’s so easy to take our parents for granted,” Chris reflects candidly. He admits to not spending as much time with his father as he would have liked, especially after the diagnosis. “He has early-stage Alzheimer’s and there are definitely good days and bad days.”
While the exact timing of the diagnosis is unclear, Chris has previously expressed concern about his own potential risk of developing the disease, as he carries two copies of the APOE4 gene, which increases the likelihood of early onset.
The documentary sees Chris and Craig revisiting significant locations from Hemsworth family history, such as a former childhood home.
Chris describes their journey as a proactive step to support his father. “I wanna do everything I can to help him so my dad and I are going on a road trip. It’s something we’ve been talking about for years,” he recalls. “Turns out the experience could help fight the disease. If it helps, fantastic. But I’m just looking forward to spending time with my dad.”
The road trip serves as a form of reminiscence therapy, which uses sensory prompts to encourage those with dementia to discuss their past, aiming to improve mood, boost self-esteem, and enhance cognitive function.
“My road trip with my dad is going to be a trip back into our past to exercise his memory in order to strengthen it,” Chris states in a voice-over. This is important as Chris notes his father sometimes forgets things he used to know well.
Chris shares the difficulty of navigating his father’s changing personality, questioning whether certain actions are symptoms or just his father’s way of doing things.
The reality of Craig’s memory lapses is illustrated on screen, as Chris describes the ‘painful’ experience of watching his father forget recent interactions with an old friend.
Chris’s mother, Leonie, also speaks about the impact of the diagnosis, expressing her struggle with the changes in her partner. “As a partner, it’s difficult because I want him to be the person that he was,” she confesses. She fears the direction in which their relationship is heading as the disease progresses.
Craig himself admits his fears of becoming a ‘burden’ and losing his connection with loved ones, but Chris reassures him that he will never be considered a burden, ending the trip with an emotional exchange of “I love yous.”
Currently, over six million Americans live with Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia. Globally, more than 55 million people have dementia, and this number is expected to nearly double every 20 years, reaching 78 million in 2030 and 139 million in 2050, according to Alzheimer’s Disease International.