[Warning: The below contains major spoilers for The Ark Season 2 Finale.]
After everything they’ve been through including losing Lt. Spencer Lane (Reece Ritchie), Ark One finally reached an inhabitable planet during the Season 2 finale of The Ark. However, there is something not quite right on Trappist 1D.
It was believed that Evelyn Maddox (Jelena Stupljanin) had died in a tragic accident, but that was all proven to be a smokescreen for what was really going on here. It turns out the Ark 15 megalomaniac had perfected William Trust’s implant technology and used it to control those on the colony. Members of Ark One fall under the control of the technology, even Captain Sharon Garnet (Christie Burke). Thankfully Lane’s twin Ian (also played by Richie) and others still on the ship figured out the plan. Maddox’s daughter Kelly Fowler proved to be the hero here as her nanites were used to create a killswitch for those who had the chips implanted in their heads. Fowler ultimately killed her maniacal mom by snapping her neck. That was before Maddox was about to stab her with a knife. And you thought your family was dysfunctional.
Pictured: (l-r) Shalini Peiris as Dr. Sanjivni Kabir, Stacey Read as Alicia Nevins, Tiana Upcheva as Eva Markovic, Paul Leonard Murray as William Trust — (Photo by: Aleksandar Letic/Ark TV Holdings, Inc./SYFY)
A celebration ensued, but Garnet wasn’t one to rest on her laurels. She revealed her plan to head back out in search of other ships to recover other family and friends who might need help. That meant she needed a crew to lend a hand. She suggested an interim governing council to oversee the colony and recommended Felix Strickland (Pavle Jerinić) as the Ark One representative. He was already on a high from a heartwarming reunion with his daughter Catherine who was found on the planet.
Joining Garnet back on board was Ian as the head of life support, Alicia Nevins (Stacey Read) promoted to chief science officer, and Lt. James [Brice] (Richard Fleeshman). This means breakups and long-distance relationships are in the future for many Ark couples. However, there was one that fully formed Grey’s Anatomy style in Dr. Sanjivni “Sanji” Kabir (Shalini Peiris) and Dr. Marsh (Jadran Malkovich). The finale left open some burning questions for a potential Season 3 including what did Angus Medford (Ryan Adams) dig up and what’s going on with that warning to Ark One from Ross 128B mean?
Here creator Dean Devlin and fellow EP Jonathan Glassner look back on the season, break down the shocking finale, and what could be next.
What went into the decision to have Evelyn Maddox return and then have her killed by her daughter?
Jonathan Glassner: There is an old saying in storytelling called Chekhov’s gun. If you hold the gun, you better use it at some point. At the end of the first episode of the season Kelly says, “If I see you again, I’m going to kill you.” We started to actually started to regret putting that line in the show as time went on with the storytelling because we were sort of evolving her into a good person, or at least redeeming her somewhat. Then when she runs into her mom, just killing her seemed wrong. That’s why it went the way it went. She gives her every chance to keep her alive and to leave it up to Garnet to save her. It ends up that Maddox tries to kill her and then it becomes self-defense for Kelly.
The crew really became a family this year, so killing off Lt. Spencer Lane felt even more like a punch to the gut. What went into that decision?
Dean Devlin: My wife still hasn’t forgiven me.
Jonathan: When we start the writer’s room each season, we look at all the characters and what is left hanging about their story. We look at their story arcs through the season. When we got to Lane, we kind of realized we have resolved his whole story last season. He went from being the naysayer who wondered why Garnet was in charge and that having her as captain would never work. He then becomes her biggest fan and saves everybody. This season we thought the one thing still hanging out there was is his hatred for clones. She is a clone for one thing. If we were to kill him, we decided it would be to first meet his own clone and find out he is a clone. That’s what set us down the ultimate path where we were
Trappist 1D — (Photo by: Ark TV Holdings, Inc./SYFY)
With Angus and Alicia, we see young love flourish. They are each other’s first sexual experience. How was tackling that within this sci-fi universe?
Jonathan: I think we always knew we would. We have these two young characters who are sent on this big adventure way too early in life because of circumstances. What is it like to be that person who has never experienced a lot of what life has to offer? Love, sex, and relationships like that. Even in parental relationships, most were leaving behind. We always knew we were going there. It was a matter of how we got there, but it was an obligatory thing we needed to explore I think.
They finally reach this inhabitable planet, there is colonization. Mission accomplished. Not so fast as Captain Garnet wants to go back out to find others and take a crew with her. This impacts a lot of relationships. What went into deciding who to split up and go in opposite ways?
Dean: I think that to a very real extent, all of Season 1 and all of Season 2 is the pilot episode. The series really begins at the start of Season 3 because it’s a show now that there is a new home for mankind, but what about all the people who got lost along the way? Can we find them? Can we bring them back? Then it becomes what are we bringing them back to? Now we have such an open book of stories we can tell on the new planet, adventures with these search and rescue missions. It really opens up what we can do storytelling-wise. It was important not to have all the characters in one place because we really want stories going on in both places.
Pictured in this screengrab: (l-r) Diana Bermudez as Kimi, Pavle Jerinic as Felix Strickland, Reece Ritchie as Lt. Spencer Lane, Christie Burke as Lt. Sharon Garnet, Richard Fleeshman as Lt. James Brice — (Photo by: Ark TV Holdings, Inc./SYFY)
What went into visually creating the world of Trappist?
Jonathan: Dean set it up from the beginning through the design of this show. It was designed to go to this planet for housing and shelter. We knew we were going to do that from the beginning. Then the production requirements force us to have a planet that is very Earth-like because to create an entire planet, I don’t think a lot of features could do that. That’s why it ended up the way it was. With the Trappist system, the irony of working on a show like this, science is moving so fast. When we started writing this the Trappist system was supposed to be the most likely place we would find life. Trappist-1d was supposed to be the planet very Earth-like because of the relation of where it was in terms of the planet. Of course, since then it was found to be most likely not the case. We were already past that point, but it was always designed to be what we used to think it was.
The finale left a lot of questions. What did Angus dig up? What do we make of the warning to Ark One? What can you tell us of where Season 3 would go?
Dean: All I’ll say is we’re going to go places we haven’t gone yet. We’re going to explore things we haven’t touched on the show. The door is wide open now. Whether it’s the adventures to come from traveling or the things that happen on this planet or the things they discover. The door is wide open.
Jonathan: We accomplished our mission. Now we have two new missions. Settle this planet and find survivors to bring back to it.