Actors Adam Baldwin and Rhona Mitra are eagerly awaiting their new action-adventure series “The Last Ship” on TNT. Executive-produced by filmmaker Michael Bay (“Transformers”), the drama follows the race to stop a deadly virus that has decimated much of the world’s population. Baldwin and Mitra both took time to talk to SpoilerTV about the upcoming show.
In the series, Mitra plays Dr. Rachel Scott, a paleomicrobiologist studying the virus and attempting to develop a vaccine for the disease. Baldwin portrays Mike Slattery, second-in-command on a naval carrier that was at sea during the outbreak. (First in command is Capt. Tom Chandler, played by Eric Dane.)
Baldwin has nothing but great things to say about his co-stars. “Eric Dane is a powerful, powerful captain as our lead,” he raves. “It’s always important to have someone in the leading role who is a kind and stern and reliable leading man. And Rhona Mitra is a powerful and strong, beautiful leading lady. The dedication that she brings to the character has been so rewarding to watch. I feel so blessed to be third in line. I’m just happy to be along for the ride to help support those guys and make this show exciting. It’s scary, it’s sexy, it’s – boom.”
“It has human beings dealing with a situation of this magnitude, and how we come together as a unified force,” offers Mitra. “I think the subject matter is incredibly poignant. And I think that it’s something that needs to be discussed right now. I find this to be an extraordinary channel to be able to expose some of [the fragility of our planet and race] and share some of the possibilities of how we can tackle the solutions for a possible pandemic like this.”
Baldwin loves that the sci-fi element is balanced with a human component. He says, “What’s interesting to me about working in sci-fi is that you can find the humanity while still in this extraordinary world. I just love the individual siding against the odds and that’s what ‘The Last Ship’ brings you. You have a crew of individuals that must come together to fight against a common foe through teamwork.”
Part of that mission is protecting Dr. Scott as she works to find a cure on board. But neither Navy leader is excited about that job since Scott originally lies to them about her purpose on the ship. “I approach my relationship with Dr. Scott as, obviously, distrustful at first. And she has to earn back that trust,” says Baldwin in character.
Mitra adds, “It’s completely expected to have more than a little bit of tension when you’re dealing with the fate of the human race.” For a while, she says her character is not only distrusted, she is like an unwanted orphan. As a scientist in a military environment, she is out of place and misunderstood. “It’s like being the child on the playground that no one wants to play with,” she reveals. “But at the end of the day when you have a mission which is far greater and eclipses anything that anyone could possibly imagine, it becomes a very easy task because you are left with the solo understanding that you have the human race and its existence in your hands.”
In the end, the military must work with Scott because they have a unified goal: preventing further outbreak and saving the world. Mitra said she enjoyed the dance-like shift of her character moving from burden to hope-giver in the mind of those on board. As they drop their fears and join together, she says the real characters begin to unfold: “As this show moves on, the armor falls off and the people are exposed, which is what I find to be most enchanting.”
She says they shot the scene around midnight after a long day. And the scene was rewritten. “We’d already shot it once and it had been in very different circumstances,” she reveals. “They rewrote it that day and they had us reshoot it.” Mitra says she worked hard to quickly re-learn important lines exposing the fact that 80 percent of the world’s population had been infected by the virus. “Making sure that that information was plausible – while, you know, my close-up was probably about 1:00 in the morning after having already shot 15 hours in that day – was a worry for me because I wanted to make sure that that scene was on point. [Eric and I] worked, thank goodness, very closely together in making sure that we got that balance right and hopefully we did.”
Mitra’s character isn’t the only one who experiences a little tension with the captain. In this high-stakes environment, Slattery doesn’t always agree with his boss’ decisions. But he respects his leadership. Baldwin tells us, “The captain, obviously, has the final say and Slattery, being second in command, must respect that in order to maintain discipline and order. It’s really a common sense benevolent dictatorship, if you will, on board the ship. Slattery is still able to challenge him – but not in an insubordinate way.”
Both Baldwin and Mitra say their characters were a big draw in attracting them to the series. Baldwin liked the different levels and depths of a military leader like Slattery. “He loves God and country. He loves his family. He wants to restore order in civil society in this catastrophic scenario. Plus, you get to wear a really cool uniform,” he enthuses.
While Baldwin auditioned for his role, Mitra says she was thankful to be offered the part without an audition. Before shooting, the two spent time preparing and researching. Baldwin read the book “Command at Sea,” which detailed how Navy officers are supposed to interact and uplift crew in a fighting scenario. “It’s important to do as much homework as you can and load up with as much information as you can,” he says. “Obviously I haven’t had the benefit of going to basic training and rising up through the ranks over the course of many years.” Technical advisors from the Navy also supervised filming.
Mitra says she conducted a tremendous amount of research for her role as well. “I already know a lot about paleomicrobiology and virology because I’m somewhat of a geek,” she reveals. “This world and the subject matter is already of great interest to me.” But she also worked with scientists to develop her character and make sure her portrayals were based in realism. “My favorite part has been talking with the virologists and the paleomicrobiologists about the truth of the situation and digging in deep to connect to the reality of story and making sure that it doesn’t seem like some sci-fi, far off, extraordinary possibility.”
Both actors were excited to work with Michael Bay, who saw the cast “several times,” according to Baldwin. “He was there in the formative days,” he tells us, “and he was pretty much hands off when it came to actually being on the set because he was shooting, directing another movie. He came and visited us but he delegated to his trusted lieutenants and generals the day-to-day oversight of our production.”
“The opportunity to work aboard a Navy-guided missile destroyer is a chance of a lifetime,” Baldwin says. “The captain and the crew were excited and they loved having us aboard. It was exciting. We got to see guns fired while the ship was on maneuvers out across the horizon.”
Baldwin believes the respect they show the Navy will be a huge selling point for the show. “These are men and women that put their lives on the line and sacrifice years from their families and loved ones. So we try to portray that as best we can. To be trusted by the Navy with depicting their branch of the service in an honorable way while still finding the flaws in human nature – which makes drama interesting – is a chance of a lifetime.”
Over the course of the series, you can expect to see some spectacular views of the ship at sea. In fact, the ship itself (named the USS Nathan James in the series) is almost its own character. “I think the ship should have her own number on the call sheet – and so should the virus,” Mitra says. “They’re two such strong personalities, you know? We’ll see them unfold and see how other people have impacted the virus and what has happened and how that has taken hold of the planet in the way it has. And that’s really to me, I think, one of the most intriguing parts of our show.”
You can catch the first episode of “The Last Ship” this Sunday, June 22 at 9/8 Central.
Are you looking forward to watching "The Last Ship?" Do the characters sound interesting? What aspect of the show are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments below.
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