Final Episode Guests: Kate Burton and Barry Diller

The Season 12 finale of Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Aired on April 14, 2026, featuring actress Kate Burton and media mogul Barry Diller as guests exploring their family histories.

According to PBS, the episode titled “Rags to Riches” examined how both Burton and Diller grew up in comfort due to the sacrifices of ancestors who faced far greater challenges, tracing lineages from shtetls to coal mines to orphanages.

The program highlighted stories of extraordinary sacrifice and posed a profound question: what do we inherit from people whose lives were unimaginably more challenging than our own?

Dailymotion hosted the full episode, with Gates introducing Burton and Diller as individuals whose families had left them in the dark about their ancestry, noting that for some reason, nobody talked about it, which he found interesting.

A Facebook post from Prairie Public confirmed that in the final episode of the new season, Gates mapped the roots of actress Kate Burton and media mogul Barry Diller, reinforcing the episode’s focus on uncovering hidden family histories.

Ancestry.com’s blog described the April 14, 2026, broadcast as the Season 12 finale, emphasizing how Gates and his guests learned about extraordinary sacrifice while exploring the legacy of those who endured hardship so future generations could thrive.

Kate Burton, known for her work in film, television, and theater, is the daughter of actor Richard Burton and Sybil Williams, though the episode delved into deeper ancestral roots beyond her immediate family.

Barry Diller, 84, is a media executive whose career includes leadership roles at Paramount, Fox, and the founding of streaming ventures, with the episode highlighting how his family’s past shaped his trajectory despite his own success.

The episode was part of a season supported by corporate sponsors including Gilead Sciences, Inc., Ancestry®, and Johnson & Johnson, with major funding from additional foundations dedicated to historical and educational programming.

As of April 17, 2026, the episode remained available for streaming on PBS platforms through May 15, 2026, allowing audiences to engage with its themes of heritage, resilience, and intergenerational legacy.