Syfy’s upcoming space drama, The Ark, has found its first crewmates. The show comes from Dean Devlin (Stargate) and Jonathan Glassner (Stargate SG-1, pictured above), and is set aboard a troubled generation ship. The first casting announcement includes low-ranking officers and systems staff, which might suggest that whatever goes wrong on this ship, it’s going to leave some up-and-comers in charge.
The premise of The Ark has some familiar elements:
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Set 100 years in the future when planetary colonization missions have begun as a necessity to help secure the survival of the human race. The first of these missions on a spacecraft known as Ark One encounters a catastrophic event causing massive destruction and loss of life. With more than a year left to go before reaching their target planet, a lack of life-sustaining supplies and loss of leadership, the remaining crew must become the best versions of themselves to stay on course and survive.
It’s a little bit of every terrible future/terrible space mission—but that doesn’t mean it can’t be its own thing, especially with seasoned SFF creators at at the helm. Devlin wrote the original Stargate film, as well as Independence Day; Glassner produced and wrote for Stargate SG-1 and The Outer Limits; and both produced The CW’s The Outpost.
The cast so far is full of fairly fresh faces, including two actors making their TV debuts, Stacey Read (playing a brilliant member of the ship’s waste management team) and Ryan Adams (playing a horticulture specialist).
Christie Burke (The Haunting of Bly Manor) will play Lt. Sharon Garnet, who “finds herself rising to the occasion when tragedy strikes,” according to Variety. Richard Fleeshman (Reign) plays Lt. James Brice, a navigation specialist. And Reece Ritchie (The Outpost), as Lt. Spencer Lane, sounds like no fun at all: He “believes only the strongest will survive and is resentful when his leadership skills are questioned.”
The Ark is now filming in Serbia. No release date has been announced.
