‘The Ark’ Boss Dean Devlin Promises Answers Heading Into Season 3 Finale

Season 3 of The Ark has been filled with shocking revelations like when Captain Sharon Garnet (Christie Burke) learned she was a Gen 3 clone. There was also the belief that beloved crew member Lieutenant James Brice (Richard Fleeshman) died sacrificing himself to a spider-like creature. Thankfully, he survived, albeit under an entity’s influence. And that’s not even including humanoid indigenous inhabitants, alien anomalies, time loops, undercover assassins, and complicated EF (Eastern Federation) and GSA (Global Space Administration) dynamics.

All the twists and turns have led to what Dean Devlin describes as an emotional finale. Here the creator, executive producer, and co-showrunner (alongside Jonathan Glassner) teases what’s to come as the questions across the season are set to be answered in the final two episodes airing October 7 and 14 on Syfy.

There is this overarching mystery and secrets on Homebase and Ross-128 that unravel over time on varying levels. Talk about the story being told.  

Dean Devlin: I will say that this is the largest mystery box I’ve ever built on a series before, and I know it seems overwhelming. But it actually all gets resolved in the last couple episodes. We don’t leave a giant question hanging over you. I think the scary thing with mystery boxes is that you go through a whole season, and then it’s like you still don’t know. You’ll know by the end of this season. I think the mysteries that happened on Ross-12B will all be explained. With Homebase, we’ll have a new understanding of what happened there, why it happened, and what it means to the people there.

There was such intricacy with how you told this threaded story over many fronts. A lot having to do with Garnett and her identity. How do you look at what Garnett has gone through this season? Talk about the challenges you faced in making everything succinct. 

While we were doing Season 2, we had this idea, and it was kind of a wild idea. We said, “What if we took the show and split it into two different shows?” We pitched the idea where one show would be the continuing saga that happens on Homebase, but we do another show that’s more episodic on The Ark, which is a search and rescue. Everybody seemed to really like that idea. I mean, it wasn’t greenlit as an idea, but everyone thought that was a really interesting idea. They hadn’t thought of a show that had veered into two separate shows. So, we wrote the show that way, and we ended Season 2, but ultimately the decision was now we’re just going to do one series. I realized we’d written ourselves into a corner now, that we had two shows we had to jam into one show. And I have to give all the credit to our showrunner Jonathan Glassner because it was his idea to create this huge mystery box. Frankly, I was nervous about it because it was a big swing, but the fans seem to have really responded to it. They love guessing what the solutions are, and I will say, having read some of the posts, some of you are right. Some of you are wrong. So it’s going to be really fun to see how they react when the truth comes out.

“The Lucky Ones” Episode 310. Pictured: Richard Fleeshman as James Brice and Tiana Upcheva as Eva Markovic in THE ARK on SYFY. Photo Credit: Aleksandar Letic/Ark TV Holdings, Inc./SYFY © 2025 VERSANT MEDIA. All Rights Reserved.

How would you describe what happens to Brice and the interesting dynamic where he feels guilty for feeling he was “cheating” on Eva (Tiana Upcheva) with these visions he his having. Then this entity takes the memories of their relationship away. That’s a complex conundrum.

It’s really interesting because I was watching some first season scenes the other day. Brice started out as this womanizing, shallow guy who basically had a death wish. And he just wanted to die in glory. He wanted to be with as many women as possible. He has evolved over these seasons into the most loyal. I mean, guilty for thoughts. He feels guilty about his thoughts. You know, that he’s really come so full circle. I don’t want to give anything away, but the ending of this season with Brice  is maybe one of the most powerful things we’ve ever done with a character, not just on this show, but any show I’ve ever done at Electric Entertainment.

Considering that we didn’t even know he was going to be coming back after he was thought to have died, I mean, that says something.

Yeah, it’s an amazing arc. If you really kind of look at the whole thing, from where he started, how he evolved, the relationship with Eva, it’s a real transformative journey. I’m really proud of the work that the actors have done in this. And proud of the writers and Jonathan Glassner for having this vision.

Sharon is very much hardwired to be this fearless captain. Yet we’ve seen a more vulnerable side as she opens up her heart to Ian (Reece Ritchie) in a relationship and also finds herself a Gen 3 clone. How is it for you to kind of see that evolution? 

Well, there’s a weird thing that happens in life where if people tell you you are one thing. you start to believe it. And I think that Sharon believed a lot of things she was told about herself. And the fun has been watching her discover that she’s much more than what she was told she was. She is worthy of love. She is worthy of relationships. Christie is a gifted actor. She’s so committed that she was really willing to dive very deeply into this character and what she’s going through, while playing seven other versions of herself. I can’t imagine a more challenging season for an actor. She’s one of the most dedicated actors I’ve ever worked with. She doesn’t take a day off. During the weekend, she’s rehearsing, or she’s talking to her coach, or she’s getting the other actors to do read-throughs. She is literally your dream number one on a show.

“Critical Failure” Episode 309. Pictured: Sergej Trifunović as Anton Novak in THE ARK on SYFY. Photo Credit: Aleksandar Letic/Ark TV Holdings, Inc./SYFY © 2025 VERSANT MEDIA. All Rights Reserved.

The puzzle pieces have really started to come together where we even see a billionaire-run space station. This world really is vast. 

The revelation that happened in the middle of Season 1 was this idea that there was warp speed because the original Ark didn’t have it. The more they’ve gotten good at using warp speed, the farther distances they can travel. And we came to learn in Season 2 that not just the Ark program, but there were other billionaires who built other ships. That there are hundreds of ships out there somewhere in space looking for new homes. One of the thoughts was what if some of these billionaire-funded spaceships found their own version of a home and what would that look like? And we run into that, and we kind of see what that looks like and what that world is. And what is a sense of commerce when there’s no one to sell to? The whole idea of what is capitalism without a market? What’s the good of supply without demand? It’s really an interesting thing of understanding that other things have been evolving throughout the universe that we’ve been completely unaware of, and we stumble into a big part of that.

How does what we’ve seen so far lead into the end? 

Well, I think what you’re seeing really with a lot of the characters is them discovering that they have value in areas that they didn’t think they did. Ultimately, what the show has always been about is you can evolve to be the best version of yourself, especially in a time of crisis where the lives of other people are on the line. We’ve gone on a long journey, especially with Kelly (Kelly Fowler) for example. She started off as this killing machine that her mother had created, and then she started to use it to try and give herself freedom, to give herself a life. Then this season it was about can she ever be redeemed? Can she ever be accepted? She doesn’t even really accept herself. So the fun is watching her discover that things that she has hated about herself can actually be very useful. And the fact that she has these implants gives her abilities that no one else had, and if she didn’t have those abilities, it would have been disastrous for them. It’s all thematic to each one of the characters discovering things about themselves that they didn’t value has enormous value.

Ark One is returning to Ark 22 where it seems that things are going to come full circle in that sense.

What I love about Garnett is she is a warrior, but she’s also a pacifist. That’s like my favorite thing about Doctor Who. In writing, if I point a gun at you, we immediately have drama. But if I have a character who does not want to ever point a gun at you, but has to like to deal with you, suddenly it’s a much harder writing assignment. It’s a much more interesting scene. She has to go confront these people. But Ark One doesn’t have any weapons, and she doesn’t believe in killing people. She doesn’t think there’s enough people left to kill any of them. So, you’re in for a very interesting confrontation.

When it comes to this undercover outfit called Black Thorn, how was it implementing this wrinkle within the colony? 

Well, one of the things that Jonathan Glassner and I talked about very, very early in Season 1 is we said, most people are used to a space show. wherein all the technology and all the decisions were made by responsible organizations like NASA or, you know, a world federation that got together. But we’re watching the world where increasingly billionaires and oligarchs get to dictate and design where there are safety concerns. So, our thought was, our world was in a panic, and we needed these ships to be built as fast as possible, to save as many people as possible.

What if it was in the hands, not of regulators, not of people with safety concerns, but in the hands of billionaires who had their own agendas. What would that look like? How would you deal with safety? In other words, these aren’t run by the military. They’re run by these corporations. They didn’t even trust the military, so they had non-military people in charge of security. Once we started going down that road, there’s got to be hidden agendas, and hidden police. Once you go down the idea that things aren’t going to be above board, it just becomes this insane web. And then, of course, in later ships, they threw out the GSA. Then they basically pirated ships and had their own agendas. So, it’s made for a wonderful playground. Literally the worst-case scenario of unregulated space travel.

You all are known for not being above killing characters. Should we be concerned for some of our favorites toward the end of the season?

Look, it’s always sad when a character that you love gets killed off. And it’s hard for us because we love the actors, and we don’t like saying goodbye to them. But I think the problem that we have in television today is we’ve seen so many shows, we always know that it’s the guest star who’s going to die at the end of an episode. And to have real stakes, you have to be willing to kill off a character here and there. I think that’s what’s kept our show compelling is you never really know who’s going to survive. I think we have to establish early that we’re willing to kill off likable characters, we’re willing to kill off popular characters. So, no promises in the last two episodes.

“I Have Nightmares” Episode 307. Pictured: Strahinja Puškarević as Raymond Quinn and Daniel Fathers as Zed Avega in THE ARK on SYFY. Photo Credit: Aleksandar Letic/Ark TV Holdings, Inc./SYFY © 2025 VERSANT MEDIA. All Rights Reserved.

What are your thoughts on how the dynamic between the GSA and EF played out with each side as all these folks try to coexist?

I think that that’s a really interesting thing. I’m not going to call out specifics, but we’ve seen countries that have been at war with each other forever. And when those conflicts finally end, how do you build back trust? There’s so much history of conflict. What we really wanted in Season 2 was this idea that we can’t afford these conflicts anymore. Here there’s just not enough humans left, that if we want to have a vibrant future, we have to get past it, we have to get past our differences. That’s not easy because things happen, traumas happen. The need for vengeance happens. We have a character in here, an EF character [Captain Zed Avega (Daniel Fathers)], who we’ve come to think of is a very thoughtful person. But when it becomes personal, he too becomes overcome with the need for revenge. I think it’s a really interesting thing to explore because we can have our better angels. guide us or are we always going to be ruled by fear and retaliation?

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'The Ark' Season 3: Christie Burke Talks Unexpected Twists, Big Baddies & New Discoveries

How would you say the finale sets up for a possible next season? 

We know very much what we want to do if we get another season, but I’m not a big fan of always ending a season with a cliffhanger. If an audience has gone 12 episodes with us and showed up every week, I feel like the meal needs to be a complete meal on its own. I don’t go back to a restaurant because they didn’t give me dessert. I go back to that because I really loved the meal. So, you’ll see the ending of this where we tie everything up. We wanted you to feel like you were rewarded for all your time and energy to watch our show. And it is a complete meal. Now, if we get the opportunity to go at it again we’ve got great ideas for another season, but we didn’t feel the need to hang that over your head to bring you back. We think if you’re coming back, it’s because you enjoyed the meal at the proverbial restaurant. 

What do you want to say to viewers before they watch the finale itself?

I think you’re going to be surprised at how powerful it is, and it’s very emotional. The finale is incredibly emotional. It’s the most satisfying ending we’ve ever done on a season. I think if you’ve enjoyed this season, you’re gonna love the finale.

The Ark, Wednesdays, 10/9c, Syfy