Christie Burke says that after a season-long power struggle, her character, Lt. Sharon Garnet, is thrilled to be acknowledged as the main spaceship's captain on Season 2 of "The Ark."
"In Season 1, it was a lot of dealing with a lot of disasters and stuff like that, and there's still that in Season 2, but there's also development within relationships that I'm really excited for."
Premiering Wednesday on Syfy, Season 2 of "The Ark" follows the inhabitants of spaceships 100 years in the future after the Earth has been destroyed.
Created by Dean Devlin ("Independence Day") and Jonathan Glassner ("Stargate SG-1"), the show stars Reece Ritchie, Richard Fleeshman, Stacey Read and Ryan Adams.
Asked if Garnet can now trust Bryce (Fleeshman) and Lane (Ritchie), two of her brilliant colleagues who took turns fighting her for control of the Ark One, Burke said, "I think so. I think so, but maybe not. There are secrets that end up getting revealed that make her second-guess her judgment."Although the Garnet-Bryce-Lane rivalry is settled, with the men seeming to fully support their captain, the show still will offer tension and mystery for viewers, Devlin and Glassner promised.
"There's plenty of intrigue and surprise in the season. We bring In some new characters who know some deep, dark secrets about our existing characters that kind of throw everything sideways a little bit in the relationships," Devlin said.
After the crew of Ark One reaches its destination and finds it uninhabitable at the end of Season 1, members must figure out how to ration and increase their resources so they can survive long enough to find a new planet to call home, teaming up with their former foes, the inhabitants of the Ark 15, piloted by Evelyn Maddox (Jelena Stupljanin), in Season 2.
"The good thing about that the way [Season 1] ended is that we're left now, hopefully, maybe, friends with our mortal enemy, and she's our only hope, which leads us down a precarious path," Devlin said.
"That ultimately leads to a great deal of hope because she knows about another planet, and then people are already assembling on the other planet, and so we have somewhere else to go and we have somewhere quite better to go. We just have to get there."
The belief that humanity can and should be saved are major themes of the show, which depicts unlikely heroes tasked with completing a near-impossible mission after their top-ranking leaders, scientists and technicians are killed in a catastrophe at the top of Season 1.
"We really focused on this idea of 'What if you have a group of people who were not yet ready to be leaders, and they all have to be leaders in their own fields? Would they rise to the occasion under the pressure?'" Devlin said of the earlier episodes.
"But, in Season 2, these characters have now become who they were meant to become, so now the the fun is watching what they do with that empowerment. I think it's going to surprise a lot of people."
Glassner agreed that the series -- which is about people from different walks of life, thinking outside the box and working together -- is meant to be uplifting.
"it's a story of hope with a lot of surprises because it's never a straight line in our lives."
Burke chimed in: "After everything that the world has been through currently, it's nice to watch a show that you can just kind of feel good after watching it, and also have exciting things [happen].
"There's so much heart in our show, which is why I think it's as good as it is."
