Poet Robert Burns once wrote that “the best-laid plans of mice and men often fail,” and that was certainly the case for the survivors of a colony ship on SYFY’s hit sci-fi adventure series Ark. In the April 2023 finale of its debut season, they witnessed the destruction of their final destination, an exoplanet called Proxima b.
Now, along with the brave and wayward Earthlings, Lieutenant Garnet and the brave crew of the Ark One seek a comfortable new home, as their great ship sets course for the Trappist system in Aquarius, dreaming that their happy ending will soon be written in the stars.
Here’s the official synopsis: “Ark is set 100 years in the future, after a planetary colonization mission essential to ensuring humanity’s survival has been launched. In season two, after the brave crew of Ark One arrives at their destination only to find it uninhabitable, they must survive long enough to find a new home for themselves and all subsequent ships.”
“The Ark” was conceived by Dean Devlin (Stargate, Independence Day) in collaboration with co-showrunner Jonathan Glassner (Stargate SG-1) and was created as a nostalgic throwback to the lighter days of classic sci-fi television shows like “Battlestar Galactica,” “Andromeda” and “Farscape.”
Season two stars Christy Burke (Lt. Sharon Garnett), Richard Fleishman (Lt. James Bryce), Reece Ritchie (Lt. Spencer Lane), Ryan Adams (Angus Medford), Stacey Michelle Reid (Alicia Nevins), Shalini Peiris (Dr. Sanjivni Kabir), Pavle Jenlinick (Felix Strickland), Christina Wolf (Dr. Kat Brandis) and Tiana Upcheva (Eva Markovic).
“In season one, we had fun with the concept of people who weren’t leaders being thrust into leadership positions,” Devlin told Space.com. “Everyone has to be their best self, and how many people can do that and how many can’t. In a way, as creators of the show, Jonathan and I have literally been watching the kids grow up in season one, so season two is, ‘Okay, now the kids are grown up, how are they going to deal with this?’ It was a surprising direction for the audience, but also for us developing the show. It’s been a lot of fun.”
For Glassner, creating forward momentum and driving the story forward in a natural way is paramount to the success of any series, especially in these perilous times.
“It’s always a question of how do we develop these characters further and what else can we reveal about them,” Glassner adds. “We’re going to find out a lot of intriguing, deep, dark secrets about a lot of characters that haven’t been revealed yet, and how will they react to that?”
Christy Burke plays Lt. Sharon Garnett, who is reluctantly appointed commander of Ark One after a tragic disaster in the first season leaves hundreds dead, and these new chapters allow her to portray a more complex character after her 12-episode run.
“I feel like in a way I’ve always had the support of not just the cast but the crew,” Burke says. “We’ve been doing this together, so it’s an easy way to do it. I felt like Garnet, in season one I was trying to prove something, and then in season two I found out I was the perfect person for the job. It was like, ‘My track record proves it.’ I was also excited to dig deeper into Garnet and see her in different situations that aren’t necessarily in a leadership role, so we get to see her in different lights that the audience hasn’t seen yet.”
Located 40 light years from Earth, the TRAPPIST system is the new destination for Season 2 following the explosion of Proxima b in the final episode of Season 1. The TRAPPIST system is a solar system containing six or seven habitable planets, three of which could potentially support life, according to the latest research.
“Sites like Space.com are my nightmare, because I’ll read an article about a planet that they currently think could be habitable or could support life,” Glassner points out. “We’ll start writing, we’ll start filming, and then a week goes by and one of the space telescopes decides that the planet is uninhabitable, but the planet next to it might be habitable. At that point we just have to let it go, and there’s no way to catch up.”
“Now, with the James Webb Space Telescope, they’re finding things every day that contradict what they thought and what we think now, and in 10 weeks we won’t think that anymore. I’ve given up trying to keep up with it, but every time I see a new discovery that contradicts what we thought was the case when we wrote it, I’m disappointed.”
A key priority for Devlin and Glassner in crafting “Ark” as engaging family entertainment was making sure that whatever science they incorporated into the show was grounded in reality.
“So that if fans ask, ‘Does Trappist really have a habitable planet?’ they can go and find out for themselves,” Devlin explains. “Our show isn’t about science. It’s not about how accurate engines are or gravity. Our show is about characters and some sci-fi concepts that we think are fun and serve our larger goal of making a show about the human mind. But if we can base things on ideas that can be explored, then even if we don’t portray it accurately on the show, we’ll at least feel like we’ve stepped into somewhere real.”
Season 2 will bring the same hopeful attitude that audiences responded to when it aired last year, and Glassner hopes the series will continue to be a beacon of more upbeat sci-fi.
“I think there’s a lot of sad and scary things going on in the times we live in right now, so it’s important to have shows that are just light-hearted entertainment. Some of my favorite shows are dark and really meaningful, they could win an Emmy, but I don’t think they’re the kind of shows that make me feel happy or laugh or talk about them. I think that’s something we really need right now.”
By rooting the show in perpetual optimism and avoiding the gloominess that accompanies most dystopian stories, “The Ark” exudes a brighter, more upbeat mood.
“We’re standing on the shoulders of giants,” Devlin says. “This show is a love letter to the shows that Jonathan and I watched as kids and the sci-fi that inspired us. And it’s not necessarily what’s trendy right now. Things tend to be more violent, darker, more niche audience-oriented. We’re trying to do something different, to pay homage to the shows that we fell in love with but tell the story in a way that’s never been done before. It’s not easy, but it gives us a very clear direction for what we want to do.”
“The Ark” season 2 (12 episodes) will premiere on SYFY at 10 PM ET on July 17, 2024. The episode will stream on Peacock the following day.
