The Ark is an American science fiction television series created by Dean Devlin for Syfy, with Devlin and Jonathan Glassner serving as showrunners for the series. The first season consists of twelve episodes and premiered on February 1, 2023. The series stars Christie Burke as Lt. Sharon Garnet who becomes the de facto captain of an interstellar spacecraft after a disaster. It also stars Reece Ritchie, Richard Fleeshman, Stacey Michelle Read, Ryan Adams, Pavle Jerinić, Shalini Peiris, Christina Wolfe, and Tiana Upcheva.
In April 2023, the series was renewed for a second season consisting of twelve episodes, which premiered on July 17, 2024. In March 2025, the series was renewed for a third season, which premiered on July 29, 2026.
Contents
Premise
A hundred years in the future, a vast spacecraft known as Ark One is shuttling a complement of would-be colonists away from a devastated Earth to a new home, Proxima Centauri B. The ship suffers a catastrophic event that kills almost all of the technical crew and all of the ship's senior officers. The survivors must work to reorganize themselves to maintain the ship and stay on course to reach their destination.
Cast and characters
Main
Christie Burke as Lt. Sharon Garnet, one of the three remaining junior officers, who assumes the role of the de facto captain of the ship after the disaster
Reece Ritchie as Lt. Spencer Lane (seasons 1–2), one of the three remaining junior officers who is suspicious of Garnet's leadership
Ritchie also portrays Ian (season 2–present), a clone and Spencer's brother
Richard Fleeshman as Lt. James Brice, one of the three remaining junior officers and a self-proclaimed "navigation wonk" who now has to take on other duties after the disaster
Stacey Read as Alicia Nevins, a waste management engineer with coding skills who is promoted to chief of life support
Ryan Adams as Angus Medford, a farm and 4-H youth from horticulture whose duties include crop development at the prospective colony
Pavle Jerinić as Felix Strickland, acting head of security enforcement
Shalini Peiris as Dr. Sanjivni Kabir, the only remaining doctor on the medical staff
Christina Wolfe as Dr. Catrina "Cat" Brandice (seasons 1–2), a social media star and "TV relationship specialist" whom Garnet orders to be the head of ship-wide mental health
Tiana Upcheva as Eva Markovic, acting head of maintenance, engineering, and construction
Recurring
Lisa Brenner as Lieutenant Commander Susan Ingram (season 1), a career military officer who would have been the superior officer to the surviving crew
Miles Barrow as Baylor Trent (season 1), an ensign and Ingram's protégé
Dominik Čičak as Harris Beckner (season 1), a member of Eva's engineering team and her secret lover
Chris Leask as Jasper Dades (season 1), a crew member with a secret
Tamara Radovanovic as Jelena Griff, a member of Ark 1's security team, later medical staff
Milos Cvetkovic as Sasha Novak, an Ark 1 engineer
Jelena Moore as Stella Cogner (season 1), an Ark 1 survivor
Jessica Yemi as Naomi Spencer, an Ark 1 survivor
Paul Murray as William Trust, the inventor of the Ark program
Mercedes De La Cruz as Helena Trust (season 1), William's wife
Samantha Glassner as Kelly Fowler, an Ark 3 survivor and Evelyn Maddox's daughter
Jelena Stupljanin as Evelyn Maddox (seasons 1–2), the commander of Ark 15
Jadran Malkovich as Dr. Marsh (season 2–present; guest season 1), Maddox's former chief of medical who defected to Ark 1 after disagreements with her
Díana Bermudez as Kimi Joma (season 2–present), Maddox's former chief of security who defected to Ark 1
Episodes
Production
The Ark received a straight-to-series order in late January 2022 with a 12-episode order from Syfy. Principal photography began at PFI Studios in Belgrade, Serbia in March of that year. Dean Devlin and Jonathan Glassner serve as showrunners and producers.
In March 2022, it was announced that the regular cast of the series had been set, with Christie Burke starring as Lt. Sharon Garnet, along with Richard Fleeshman, Reece Ritchie, Stacey Read, and newcomer Ryan Adams. In April 2022, it was announced that Lisa Brenner would be a recurring guest star, playing Commander Susan Ingram, with Christina Wolfe, Shalini Peiris, Miles Barrow, Pavle Jerinić, and Tiana Upcheva also recurring.
On April 12, 2023, Syfy renewed the series for a second season. On March 5, 2025, Syfy renewed the series for a third season.
Release
The first trailer was released in December 2022. The series premiered on Syfy on February 1, 2023, with episodes released the next day on Peacock.
The second season premiered on July 17, 2024. The third season premiered on July 29, 2026.
Reception
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported a 50% approval rating based on 14 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "The core concept of The Ark ought to be alluring enough for the sci-fi faithful, but blasé writing and chintzy production values call into question whether this particular world is worth preserving." Metacritic assigned a score of 50 out of 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".