The Last Ship ended last season with Rachel Scott finding a cure for the virus wiping out humankind and discovering a way to easily administer the vaccine from person-to-person. With the virus under control, it should be easy sailing, right? Nope. Not at all.
The Last Ship Season 3 deals with the national and international political ramifications of the vaccine. This season includes some characters taking on new responsibilities and positions, as well as, some new characters.
BuddyTV spoke with Executive Producers Hank Steinberg and Steven Kane, and actors Adam Baldwin (Captain Mike Slattery), Bridget Regan (Sasha Cooper), Travis Van Winkle (Lt. Danny Green), Jocko Sims (Lt. Carlton Burk) and Marissa Neitling (Kara Foster) to get the scoop on exciting developments coming this season.
St. Louis and Asia
Steinberg: “In Season 3, the storyline is split between the action in Asia and the Presidency in the new White House in St. Louis. … The drama is between geo-political issues of how to hold the country together and the question of how many resources should we give to saving the rest of the world when America is stretched very thin and trying to repair itself.”
Sims: “Initially, we hear that one of our supposed allies in China, President Peng, isn’t distributing the vaccine the way we heard that he should. We head over for a summit to find out what’s going on. And, while we’re on that mission, like every other season, things happen. A huge, huge thing happens. It’s just so cool.”
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Kara Foster
Steinberg: “Kara is now serving as Deputy Chief of Staff, so her storyline is anchored in St. Louis.”
Van Winkle: “I have to salute [Kara] now when I see her. She is now a powerhouse in the White House. As the season progresses, we do spend some time apart.”
Neitling: “Kara is dealing with the dynamics of re-building America, while there are a bunch of regional leaders at home, that are either for [President] Michener’s policies or against them. So, she’s dealing with that arena at home, as well as, being a military advisor and trying to advise the President.”
Captain Mike Slattery
Baldwin: “In the political realm, our illustrious Captain Chandler gets bumped up to Chief of Naval Operations and someone has to step up and take control of the Nathan James and it’s me [Mike Slattery]. It’s pretty short-lived because of the things that happen, but we return to it.”
Captured in Asia
Steinberg: “They go to Asia and needless to say, they get into some trouble.”
Baldwin: “There’s some badness that happens and we’re captured for a little while and treated very poorly and there’s a lot of blood. Imprisonment is dangerous.”
Introducing Sasha Cooper
Regan: “She is a former Navy Intelligence Officer. She was detailed into defense intelligence, and when we meet her, she’s in what we are calling “New China.” She’s sort of a diplomat, sort of a liaison between countries.
But, we have to keep in mind in this world– that government, what it was since the plague, there’s been a big shift in power and how countries are working together. Sasha is doing the best she can to keep this new leader of China, President Peng, in line, but there’s only so much she can do.”
Hmm, Sasha and Tom?
Regan: “She’s reunited with Tom Chandler and they have a past. They go way back and in some ways they are more similar than they would both like to admit and she challenges him in a way no one else on the ship does. At the same time, she trusts his judgement completely and she’s on board with him.
She has a relationship with Tom not like anyone else on the ship. Meaning, she knows a different side of him that no one else knows. That being said, Sasha is ready to put aside her emotions and get the job done.”
It’s Not Safe Out There
Steinberg: “It’s a dangerous world out there. The way we keep the audience on their toes, we have to lose people along the way to feel like every time they go out there, you don’t know what could happen. We’ve had to lose some of our favorite characters and favorite actors in the process, but it’s what keeps the show appealing and feeling real.”
The Last Ship premieres Sunday, June 12 at 8pm ET on TNT.
(Image courtesy of TNT.)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Contributing Editor and Writer for Collider, BuddyTV, TV Fanatic, CliqueClack, and other publications. TV criticism, reviews, interviews with actors and producers, and other related content. Founder of TV Diehard.
