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'The Ark' stars tease intensity of SYFY's new space-set thriller: 'There's never a moment of peace'
"This is a very thrilling show that's throwing you in the middle of a crisis."
The Ark won't offer any rest for the weary when it premieres on SYFY this Wednesday. In a new behind-the-scenes featurette, the cast members of the ambitious series co-created by Dean Devlin and Jonathan Glassner tease a thrill ride that will leave you breathless.
"We're launched into disaster the moment the show starts," promises Reece Ritchie, who plays Lt. Spencer Lane (a member of the Ark One who believes that only those with strong wills should be allowed to survive). "It's do-or-die ... Very rarely do we let the gas off and let the audience sit back. And if we do, we're straight back into something else."
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"There's never a moment of peace on The Ark," echoes co-star Pavle Jerinić (playing Lt. Felix Strickland, the ship's hard-nosed head of security). Christie Burke (Lt. Sharon Garnet, a low-ranking officer and major voice of reason in a time of crisis) says: "On a show where you're kind of faced with tragedy and you're always in a life and death situation, you really get to know what you're made of."
Check out the featurette below:
And don't just take the actors' word for it. Another sneak peak at the series, which dropped Monday, gives a glimpse at just how intense things will get. The one-minute clip begins with an automated voice broadcasting over the Ark One ship, "Repeat: Life support warning. Oxygen depletion alert." Lt. Garnet views a screen with the alert, then runs for it. "All crew members, please reach a compression suit and helmet," the robotic voice broadcasts through the ship. There's a lot of running and scrambling for safety equipment. And an automated door closes on at least one person, separating her from the group.
Take a look here:
The ensemble cast also includes: Richard Fleeshman (head of the ship's navigational system, Lt. James Brice), Stacey Read (Alicia Nevins, a brilliant young woman and member of the Waste Management team), Ryan Adams (Angus Medford, a young man with a green thumb), Christina Wolfe (manipulative psychologist, Cat Brandice), Shalini Peiris (Dr. Sanjivni Kabir, the Ark One's chief physician), Miles Barrow (ensign with an identity crisis, Baylor Trent), Tiana Upcheva (Eva Markovic, leader of Ark One's maintenance, engineering, and life support systems), and Lisa Brenner (military veteran, Commander Susan Ingram) co-star.
If none of those names ring a bell, that's entirely by design. Catching up with SYFY WIRE in late 2022, Devlin explained that he really wanted to cast mostly unknown actors to heighten the show's sense of realism. That philosophy extended to the stunts, production design, and special effects. "They built the whole thing," Adams proclaims in the featurette. "There's no green screen — the only green screen is space."
Devlin and Glassner are co-showrunners and serve as executive producers alongside Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan-Wilson of Electric Entertainment. Jonathan English of Balkanic Media and Steve Lee are producers.
The Ark premieres on SYFY this Wednesday — Feb. 1 — at 10 p.m. ET. New episodes will debut on Peacock the day after they air.
Want to check out more of Devlin's filmography in the meantime? All three The Librarian movies are now streaming on Peacock.
