Last Resort is an American military drama television series created by Shawn Ryan and Karl Gajdusek and produced by Sony Pictures Television which centres on the crew of a U.S. nuclear submarine who become fugitives from their own country after questioning a suspicious order to fire nuclear missiles.
They land on a remote island in the South Pacific, where they commandeer a NATO Listening Station and declare themselves the world's newest nuclear armed nation. Now it's a race against the clock to uncover the truth while dealing with global geopolitics and growing unrest amongst crew members and the island's local inhabitants.
The series aired in the USA on ABC from 27 September, 2012 to 24 January, 2013. There are 13 hour-long episodes in one season.
Last Resort premiered in South Africa on DStv's Sony Entertainment Television (SONY) channel on Tuesday 23 July 2013, at 20h50. New episodes broadcast weekly.
Synopsis
500 feet beneath the ocean's surface, the U.S. ballistic missile submarine Colorado receives their orders. Over a radio channel, designed only to be used if their homeland has been wiped out, they're told to fire nuclear weapons at Pakistan.
Captain Marcus Chaplin (Andre Braugher) demands confirmation of the orders only to be unceremoniously relieved of duty by the White House.
XO Sam Kendal (Scott Speedman) finds himself suddenly in charge of the submarine and facing the same difficult decision. When he also refuses to fire without confirmation of the orders, the Colorado is targeted, fired upon, and hit.
The submarine and its crew find themselves crippled on the ocean floor, declared rogue enemies of their own country.
Now, with nowhere left to turn, Chaplin and Kendal take the sub on the run and bring the men and women of the Colorado to an exotic island. Here they will find refuge, romance and a chance at a new life, even as they try to clear their names and get home.
Last Resort stars Andre Braugher (Men of a Certain Age, Homicide: Life on the Street) as Captain Marcus Chaplin, Scott Speedman (The Vow, Felicity) as XO Sam Kendal, Daisy Betts (Persons Unknown) as Lieutenant Grace Shepard, Dichen Lachman (Being Human, Dollhouse) as Tani Tumrenjack, Daniel Lissing (Crownies) as SEAL Officer James King, Sahr Ngaujah (House of Payne) as Mayor Julian Serrat, Camille de Pazzis (The First Day of the Rest of Your Life) as Sophie Gerard, Autumn Reeser (Hawaii Five-0, No Ordinary Family) as Kylie Sinclair, Jessy Schram (Falling Skies, Once Upon a Time) as Christine Kendal and Robert Patrick (True Blood, The Unit) as Master Chief Joseph Prosser.
Last Resort was created by Shawn Ryan (The Shield, The Unit, The Chicago Code) and Karl Gajdusek (Trespass, Dead Like Me), who, along with Marney Hochman (The Chicago Code, Terriers) serve as executive producers for the pilot and series.
The pilot for Last Resort was also executive produced and directed by Martin Campbell (Green Lantern, Casino Royale). Last Resort is produced by Middkid Productions in association with Sony Pictures Television.
Main Characters
THE SUBMARINE – THE USS COLORADO
Captain Marcus Chaplin (Andre Braugher)
The Captain of the Ohio-class submarine, the USS Colorado, Marcus is a man of principle, honour and duty. When questionable orders arrive to fire a devastating nuclear strike on Pakistan, rather than blindly obey, Marcus questions the order, and ultimately refuses it, laying himself and his senior officers open to charges of mutiny and treason.
But in that moment, Marcus embodies the core tenet of the U.S. Navy's Honor Concept: to "stand for that which is right."
Spurred by this intrinsic belief, Marcus leads his crew in blazing a new path – one marked with questions of loyalty, sacrifice and what it means to be an American. As a man who has lost many dear to him in the service of country, Marcus's personal journey is especially perilous.
In him, we have a puzzle that could tip either way: is he George Washington, leading a band of hopefuls away from a mad world; or is he Captain Kurtz from Apocalypse Now, a man ultimately corrupted by power, leading his people into a dark and inescapable vortex?
Sam Kendal (Scott Speedman)
As XO of the Colorado and Marcus's second in command, Sam is more pragmatist than philosopher. More man of action than sideline coach. But with a built in moral compass, some actions don't come easy.
In their many years together on the Conn at the control of the Colorado, Marcus and Sam have developed an easy cadence, an effortless rhythm in piloting one of the most powerful weapons vessels in the world.
In the weeks to come, as he tries to maintain the easy synch he's shared with Marcus for so long, Sam will be pushed into places where there are no good and simple solutions.
And if there's one thing that can trump Sam's allegiance to Marcus, it's his commitment to his wife, Christine.
For Sam, his loyalty and debt to Marcus is something he will continuously weigh against his love for Christine and his vision of a home that is rapidly shrinking on the horizon.
Lieutenant and Chief Navigator Grace Shepard (Daisy Betts)
Lieutenant and Chief Navigator of the Colorado, Grace is among the first wave of female officers to serve on U.S. submarines. Being a pioneer is never easy, and Grace's commission is made more difficult by being tinged with nepotism.
Grace's father, Admiral Arthur Shepard, not only has an office at the Pentagon, he counts Marcus as a longtime friend. Grace has to endure the grumbling of the enlisted men, knowing that, on some level, their resentment is justified.
Her only recourse is to earn the respect of the crew in her own right and stand on her own two feet without Daddy or Marcus propping her up.
Grace's proving ground presents itself sooner than expected – a baptism by gunfire from which she emerges wounded but victorious, and also quietly exhilarated.
As she moves through this volatile emotional terrain, Grace will discover a hunger for leadership.
Chief of the Boat Joseph Prosser (Robert Patrick)
Chief of the Boat Prosser is the designated leader of all enlisted crew on the Colorado. A career military man, Prosser is the rusty nail that holds the boat together.
A longtime confidante to Marcus, Prosser nonetheless finds himself on the other side of the philosophical abyss that opens up when Marcus refuses the order to fire on Pakistan.
A deep believer in the chain of command, Prosser is certain he's on the side of right when he tries to overthrow Marcus's authority. When that attempt is foiled by Grace, Prosser's natural animosity towards her is enflamed.
Prosser's path as he struggles between loyalty to his homeland and the men and women who look to him for order here on the island is littered with old temptations – demons he thought he'd put to rest years ago, only to reappear under the deceptively blue skies of his new post.
Navy Seal James King (Daniel Lissing)
After an operation in Pakistan goes south, Navy Seal James King finds himself on a Zodiac in the middle of the Indian Ocean. With members of their team dead, and another gravely wounded, James and the Seals are on a short fuse by the time the Colorado picks them up.
The trouble begins when Marcus questions the order to fire on Pakistan, and only worsens when the Colorado is in turn fired on by another U.S. submarine.
When his Seals Commander is killed in the sub action that follows, James finds himself the de facto leader of the team. But once his feet hit the sands of Sainte Marina, the only mission he's interested in is to down as much booze as the island's only bar can pour.
His desire to obliterate the last 48 hours is made all the more palatable by Tani, the lovely Sainte Marina native behind the bar.
James takes no orders from Marcus, saying that he doesn't know what this operation is any more, but it sure as hell ain't the Navy.
THE ISLAND – SAINTE MARINA
Mayor Julian Serrat (Sahr Ngaujah)
Growing up in the killing fields of Liberia, Julian Serrat was born looking for ways to survive. Small of stature, but large of presence, Serrat learned early on how to command respect – by exploiting every loophole, extorting any mark, and cutting off the hands of anyone who steals from him.
Serrat found his way to the island via the black market. Perfectly situated to serve as a way station, Sainte Marina provided the ideal home for Serrat – a strategic hub where money, drugs and guns flowed to him with little effort, as well as a tropical paradise to feed his taste for all of life's pleasures.
Since the arrival of the NATO station, Serrat has made himself a little kingdom here, skimming cash and being the de facto boss of the town.
Is the arrival of the Colorado a nuisance or an opportunity for him? Knowing Serrat, it will likely become the latter. One way or another.
Sophie Girard (Camille de Pazzis)
A native of France and a citizen of the world, Sophie is a trained scientist who happens to be employed by NATO in Sainte Marina when Marcus pulls up his nuclear submarine on the island's shores.
A deeply empathetic person, Sophie is troubled by the death and disruption that the Colorado has brought to Sainte Marina. Her time on the island has led to genuine bonds, among the native people and, more dangerously, the corrupt, self-proclaimed "mayor" of Sainte Marina's two-road town Soubourg.
While initially reluctant to provide Marcus and Sam the benefit of her knowledge and connections, Sophie eventually concedes that she can do more good if she stays. lso swaying her decision to stay is her complicated relationship to Sam.
She's not used to being around honourable men and while there's an attraction, ironically it's that very honour – his unwavering devotion to his wife, Christine – that may keep him from ever reaching for Sophie.
Tani Tumrenjack (Dichen Lachman)
A native of the island by blood, Tani's roots in Sainte Marina are more tangled than they might appear. Her father left the island as a young man and met Tani's mother in Australia where they lived for many years, before he decided to take his young family back to his home.
Having spent her formative years in a more permissive Western culture, Tani had to adjust to the simpler ways of her father's tribe. When her mother died (the result of the island's lack of proper medical care) Tani rebelled.
One foot in and one foot out, Tani runs the bar in town, hoping to make enough money to earn her a ticket back into the world.
When the Colorado lands on her doorstep in the form of a handsome Navy Seal with a brick of cash, she's more than willing to take both the Seal and the cash.
While having a nuclear sub parked in the harbour of what used to be the middle of nowhere might unnerve anyone else, Tani takes it in stride. Hell, it might be the most exciting thing that will ever happen to her.
THE HOMELAND – WASHINGTON D.C./VIRGINIA
Christine Kendal (Jessy Schram)
As Sam's wife for only two years, Christine has spent more days without her husband than with him. In many ways, they're still in the honeymoon phase; the constant separations and reunions fuelling the passionate romance between them.
While marrying a Naval Officer during wartime has allowed her to retain and nurture her independent spirit, Christine can't help but feel her life is in limbo.
Before Sam left on this tour, she made him promise it would be his last. That he'd come home to her. That they'd start a family.
Now with that dream cruelly ripped away, Christine is forced to find a strength inside herself she never knew she had: to defend her husband against accusations of treason; to fight, and possibly compromise herself, to clear his name.
Kylie Sinclair (Autumn Reeser)
A notorious rich girl, she is the golden child of a leading defence contractor and afraid of nothing. At least, that is, until she is given very very good reasons to be afraid. But even then her chutzpah is largely undeterred.
A prototype of her "baby" – a high tech device that masks sound and disrupts the magnetic signature of submarines, essentially making them invisible – is aboard the Colorado when Marcus refuses the order.
Kylie is not about to sit still when a Navy Captain goes rogue and takes her profit margin with him.
Driven at first by her own selfish interests, Kylie will be drawn into the government's conspiracy and cover-up, and will ultimately be shocked at the faces she finds in and among this cabal.