First photographs from the new Syfy series The Ark have been released exclusively, and they capture the feeling of doom that befalls the show’s unlucky spacefaring ensemble. Following the first of many voyages to locate new inhabitable planets, the story is set a hundred years in the future, when planetary exploration and colonisation is no longer a utopian ideal but essential to humanity’s survival.
Along the route, disaster strikes the expedition’s spaceship, the Ark One, causing widespread death and injury, severe damage to the vessel, a breakdown in ship command, and the depletion of essential supplies. Even though they are still over a year away from their destination planet, the surviving crew members must keep everything running well. The extent of the destruction to the Ark One expedition is seen in these four photographs. In one chilling scene, the ship’s remaining crew members are shown in a dimly lighted corridor, looking over the remains of their fallen comrades. While the actual disaster isn’t depicted, the crew’s reactions provide a taste of the dread that permeates the film.
Two crew members are depicted in the next two photographs, one of them is seen glancing over their shoulder as the other screams in horror at the unfolding calamity. But the final scene is more calmer, showing Christie Burke resting in a pod on the spacecraft. Burke will take charge as acting captain and born leader Lt. Sharon Garnet, surrounded by Richard Fleeshman’s smooth-talking, hot-headed navigator Lt. James Brice, Reece Ritchie’s power-hungry Lt. Spencer Lane, Stacey Read’s awkward yet ultra-intelligent life support specialist Alicia Nevens, and Ryan Adams’s head of horticulture Angus Medford.
Christina Wolfe, Shalini Peiris, Miles Barrow, Pavle Jerini, and Tiana Upcheva will also be joining the cast in recurring roles. Dean Devlin, who wrote the classic science fiction film Independence Day, penned this series. Devlin also wrote the first Stargate, which launched a series of sequels and spinoffs set in the same universe he and Roland Emmerich established. Devlin and Stargate SG-1 co-creator Jonathan Glassner will collaborate on The Ark as co-showrunners. Additionally, both will serve as executive producers alongside Electric Entertainment’s Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan-Wilson. Steve Lee and Balkanic Media’s Jonathan English.
Syfy will debut The Ark in 2023.