The Ark (TV series)

The Ark is an American science fiction television series created by Dean Devlin and Jonathan Glassner, who also serve as showrunners for the series. It premiered on Syfy on February 1, 2023, with the first season consisting of twelve episodes. The series stars Christie Burke as Lt. Sharon Garnet who becomes the de facto captain of an interstellar spacecraft after a disaster. It also stars Reece Ritchie, Richard Fleeshman, Stacey Michelle Read, Ryan Adams, Pavle Jerinić, Shalini Peiris, Christina Wolfe, and Tiana Upcheva. In April 2023, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on July 17, 2024.

Premise
A hundred years in the future, a spacecraft known as Ark One is shuttling a complement of would-be colonists away from a devastated Earth to a new home, Proxima b. The ship suffers a catastrophic event that kills almost all of the technical crew and all of the ship's senior officers. The survivors must work to reorganize themselves to maintain the ship and stay on course to reach their destination.

Main

 * Christie Burke as Lt. Sharon Garnet, one of the three highest-ranking remaining members of the crew and the de facto captain of the ship after the disaster
 * Reece Ritchie as Lt. Spencer Lane, one of the three highest-ranking remaining members of the crew; he is suspicious of Garnet's leadership
 * Richard Fleeshman as Lt. James Brice, one of the three highest-ranking remaining members of the crew and a self-proclaimed "navigation wonk" who now has to take on other duties after the disaster
 * Stacey Read as Alicia Nevins, a waste management engineer with coding skills who is promoted to chief of life support
 * Ryan Adams as Angus Medford, a farm and 4-H youth from horticulture whose duties include crop development at the prospective colony
 * Pavle Jerinić as Felix Strickland, acting head of security enforcement
 * Shalini Peiris as Dr. Sanjivni Kabir, the only remaining doctor on the medical staff
 * Christina Wolfe as Dr. Cat Brandice, a social media star and "TV relationship specialist" who Garnet orders to be the head of ship-wide mental health
 * Tiana Upcheva as Eva Markovic, acting head of maintenance, engineering and construction

Supporting

 * Lisa Brenner as Lieutenant Commander Susan Ingram, a career military officer, who would have been the superior officer to the surviving crew
 * Miles Barrow as Baylor Trent, an ensign and Ingram's protégé.
 * Dominik Čičak as Harris Beckner, a member of Eva's engineering team and her secret lover.
 * Chris Leask as Jasper Dades, a crew member with a secret.
 * Paul Murray as Ark inventor William Trust.
 * Mercedes De La Cruz as Helena Trust, William's wife.
 * Samantha Glassner as Kelly Fowler, an Ark 3 survivor.
 * Jelena Stupljanin as Evelyn Maddox, Trust's rival.

Production
The premise is very similar to the 1970s series The Starlost, in which a multi-generational starship called Earthship Ark was launched to allow the passengers to escape a dying Earth. More than 100 years into the voyage, an unexplained accident occurs, and the ship goes into emergency mode. The survivors have to figure out how to safely pilot the starship.

The Ark went straight-to-series in late January 2022 with a 12-episode order from SyFy. Principal photography began at PFI Studios in Belgrade, Serbia in March of that year. Dean Devlin and Jonathan Glassner serve as showrunners and producers.

In March 2022, it was announced that the regular cast of the series had been set, with Christie Burke starring as Lt. Sharon Garnet, along with Richard Fleeshman, Reece Ritchie, Stacey Read, and newcomer Ryan Adams. In April 2022, it was announced that Lisa Brenner would be a recurring guest star, playing Commander Susan Ingram, with Christina Wolfe, Shalini Peiris, Miles Barrow, Pavle Jerinić, and Tiana Upcheva also recurring.

On April 12, 2023, Syfy renewed the series for a second season.

Broadcast and release
The series trailer was released in December 2022. It premiered on Syfy on February 1, 2023, with episodes to be streamed the next day on Peacock.

Reception
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported a 50% approval rating based on 14 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "The core concept of The Ark ought to be alluring enough for the sci-fi faithful, but blasé writing and chintzy production values call into question whether this particular world is worth preserving." Metacritic assigned a score of 50 out of 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".