The Ark: Dean Devlin and Jonathan Glassner talk that explosive finale and tease Season 2

What an ending to a great first season! The Ark Season 1 brought us an explosive twist, and here’s what Dean Devlin and Jonathan Glassner can share about Season 2.

Caution: This is a post-mortem interview so does include spoilers for The Ark Season 1 finale.

For the whole of The Ark Season 1, the crew of Ark One has had one thing to do: get to a planet to restart the human race. Well, okay, at first, it was just find a way to survive. After that, it was to get to a planet to restart the human race.

Along the way, the crew found out a few things about Earth. Things weren’t great, with the family members of Ark One getting to go on Ark Three in the hope of meeting their families at the planet as a surprise. However, Ark Fifteen had other plans. Well, Maddox had other plans.

In the end, Ark One and Ark Fifteen had to work together. One had one of the ingredients for the cure for Klampkin’s and Maddox needed that, while Maddox had Lane and Sharon wanted to get him back. Trust was the only one who could start the planet rotating, and One had to find a way to save Fifteen when Trust made it clear he did not live up to his name.

In the end, it looked like One and Fifteen could sort of live on the planet together. That was until it turned out the planet was turning into a star and was about to explode. We left Ark One completely stranded and Maddox agreeing to send rescue shuttles. But all we know is that those on the bridge have survived. There were no comms to anyone else.

Dean Devlin and Jonathan Glassner talked about The Ark Season 1 finale and shared where we’ll pick up in the timeline with Season 2. Take a look at everything they have to share.

Dean Devlin and Jonathan Glassner are not giving anything way about The Ark Season 2

Hidden Remote: It’s so hard to know where to start with that season finale. I guess Brice stands out right now. While Alicia was happy to report Brice’s Klampkin’s is cured, the doc had some concerning words. His liver and kidneys have suffered damage. Is this something to watch out for in The Ark Season 2?

Jonathan Glassner: You’ll need to watch to find out.

Dean Devlin: As you know from watching the show is the only thing that’s certain is uncertainty.

HR: Yes, they don’t get a break at all. Can they have a break?

DD: How fun would that be?

HR: That’s fair, but I did like that at one point there was a “3.5 Earth Month” time jump. It felt like they had time to bond and get in a rhythm. Do you plan on doing that again should they get out of their current situation?

JG: We might. It depends on how the story dictates. One of the things that’s a challenge about our show, that’s a bit of a rollercoaster, is that something happens, you solve it, and something else hits them, and it just keeps going like that. One of the reasons with did [the time jump] last season was for them to take a breath, and we might had to do that this season depending on how it goes. We’ll see.

HR: Where will we pick up with The Ark Season 2 after that cliffhanger?

JG: 10 minutes after the cliffhanger. Who lived and who died will be the big question.

HR: The poor doc. She’s just been left with nobody to help her. Please give her someone. Can you give her a bit of a break?

JG: No. She may get some help, but she’s not going to get a break.

DD: I think the dynamic of the show is that they’re in a pressure cooker and their decisions are life and death decisions, and it gives this ability to reveal who they are and where their flaws are. The doctor has the best heart and the best intention but she was breaking under the pressure and she turned to the pills to get through it. She wasn’t looking to get high and to have fun. She was just looking to get through her day, and she leaned on a crutch that was very destructive for her, and it revealed her character flaw.

HR: I loved that they all had their flaws. Brice had his death wish. I can’t see him getting out of that even though he’s cured. Are we still going to see him jump in to sacrifice himself to save everyone else?

DD: It will be interesting to see how he reacts because he’s now in a new world in a way. He was a world-famous fighter pilot before he had Klampkin’s. Does he return to that? Does he turn into someone else? That’ll be a lot of fun watching how that develops.

Which is your favorite?

HR: Strickland! I did want to talk about him and his story. My heart broke for him when he found out his husband was on Ark Three without their daughter. Kelly told this story about what happened to Katherine, but then it turned out she wasn’t who she said she was. Will you revisit this for him as he tries to piece together what happened, or will he accept he’ll never know?

DD: That’s the thing. I don’t think there’s ever getting over the loss of a child.

JG: Yeah, I think he’s always going to hope he’ll find her.

HR: Unless the death happens on screen, it’s not actually happened.

JG: Kelly was an unreliable narrator.

HR: Kelly has a lot of issues going there. We don’t even know if she’s going to wake up. What does this mean for Maddox?

JG: They’re in an interesting situation because their savior was the one to put them in the bad shape in the first place, but she’s now saving them. How do you respond to that person? Do you thank them or do you say ‘thanks, now go away.’ That’s something we have a lot of fun with in the next few episodes.

HR: I love complex characters.

DD: That’s the fun of it. Sure you’ve got a character who seems to be only one thing, but then you see more complexity. When we were doing the pilot, we tried to portray everyone as some sort of archetype you’ve seen before, so you go ‘Oh, I’ve seen that character before’ or ‘I know where that is going.’ And we did that intentionally so that when they go in a different direction, you get the whiplash.

HR: Will you take a look at why people got the jobs that they did? Why was Alicia, the smartest person on the ship, put in waste management?

JG: In my mind, everyone on this ship are really smart people. They handpicked everybody to repopulate humanity on this planet. They weren’t going to put a Third Grade educated person who was weak as the person working in waste management. They’re going to put the smartest, most qualified person they can find in there, and so she’s a genius, but so were most of the other people.

DD: I think what you have to keep in mind is that the world our show lives in is not the world we live in now. If we launch a spaceship now, there’s government regulations and boards to vote on what you’re doing and they need to make sure you’ve done all the requirements. This is a program that is owned and run by billionaires who answer to no one, so choosing the people, where the ships are built, where they put the energy in are all that the whims of these billionaires. Now that you’ve met Trust and Maddox, I don’t know if you would really trust their priorities and what’s important.

This was kind of our warning that we have billionaires running the space programs now. What happens 70 years from now when they’re the only ones running it?

HR: So, we have seen three Arks so far and there was a mention there were 15 that were launched. Is there more chance of seeing more Arks? I can’t see Maddow destroying them all because they were all going to different planets.

JG: Yeah, if Ark Fifteen is numbered 15, there were probably 14 before it and there may be some after it. There are a lot of Arks out there.

DD: We know that Ark Two blew up when it tried to use its faster-than-light speed. We don’t know what happened on the launches of the other ones. Were people rioting to get on board? Are they run by pirates? I think that’s going to be a question on the minds of everyone. Is there anyone else? Is it just them? If it’s just them, how much pressure does that put on them for restarting mankind?

HR: Especially with the planet they were going to now gone.

DD: That’s right.

HR: Is there a chance to see what Earth is like, or was like? We’ve heard stories but nothing has been shown yet. Will you keep it in space so we learn as they learn?

DD: We’re not afraid to do some flashbacks but what we don’t wnt to do is have parallel stories in the past and the present. This is really about these people in this environment. But there were a couple of times we went back just to clarify things, we may do that again.

JG: Very limited if we do.

HR: With integrating with Ark Fifteen, there will be new characters. Can you tease them?

JG: There will be new characters but that’s all I’ll say. If I say anything more, I’ll give away some of the stories.

DD: There will be some big surprising people showing up.

The interview has been edited for clarity.

What did you think of The Ark Season 1 finale? What do you hope to seeing The Ark Season 2? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The Ark is available to stream on Peacock.