‘The Last Ship’ EP Steven Kane Explains Chandler’s Fate, Reveals Series Finale Secrets
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the series finale of The Last Ship, “Commitment.”]
The Last Ship ended its five-year tour of duty with one helluva battle, bringing victory over Gran Colombia and the death of the enemy’s unhinged leader Gustavo “Tavo” Barros (Maurice Compte).
It looked like death was in the cards for Commander Tom Chandler (Eric Dane) as well, as he appeared to go down with his beloved ship, the Nathan James, after he rammed it into Tavo’s battleship. But like the hero of the story should, he lived to see another day.
The show’s creator and executive producer Steven Kane talks about his choices for The Last Ship’s final voyage.
The scenes of the Marines and Naval Special Forces storming the beach in Colombia under heavy fire were impressive. Were you inspired by the opening scenes of Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan?
Steven Kane: We were definitely inspired by Saving Private Ryan, recognizing that they had Steven Spielberg and that they had as much time and money as they desired to shoot their invasion. Meanwhile, we had Steven Kane and two-and-a-half days to shoot it.
Wow. How challenging was that?
It was challenging, but it was the best way to finish the show. In fact, our very last day of production was on the beach. It was a nice farewell to the cast and crew to go out with that kind of accomplishment.
How did you do it? You had all these amphibious vehicles and lots and lots of military in those scenes.
What happened was, when Season 5 began, we heard from the Marines that they wanted to get involved in the show. Up until then, it was always a Navy show. We started thinking, “What kind of assets do the Marines have that we could use.” I told them, “I want to do D-Day, so if you guys are ever doing any kind of amphibious assault exercises in Camp Pendleton where you have tanks, we’d love to come and film it. We won’t get in your way or ask you to do anything that you’re not already doing.”
They said yes and we brought nine cameras and a drone to film their exercise, which had these amphibious assault vehicles exiting from the back of a big amphibious ship. It was just great B-roll. Then in September, we went back and filmed a sequence based on what I had seen that day. The Marines let us use tanks that were sitting there and a lot of off-duty Marines acted as extras on the beach. We had about 500 people on the beach, we had two crews, we were blowing thing up constantly and moved a mile a minute. Luckily, everything worked out.
The entire season was mostly non-stop action! Why the change?
We’ve had plenty of action over the years, but this is the first season that was really just about war. The other ones were about missions — about finding a cure, distributing a cure, etcetera — and the battles were incidental to the bigger mission. The show began as an action adventure show; the first season was very popcorn in a good way. In general you felt like they were going to a gunfight and they’d come out unscathed.
As the show matured, as Chandler’s character matured, he went from being an average captain of an average ship, to being the man who saved the world, to watching so many of his people die under his command and seeing the pain and the suffering of what war does. These people s are heroes but they’re very much human, and war is bad for humans. So, I wanted to tell a war story that showed how these warriors remained heroes, but how much they have to sacrifice to do so. Chandler is haunted by the specter of his own death, and the guilt of all those people who died under his command.
You did kill off a lot of the cast this season.
When people complain, “I can’t believe you killed of so-and-so” or “I can’t believe he lost his leg,” the point is not to be gratuitous, but that these people have been through war for too long, and they’re going to suffer as a result.
Tom Chandler suffered but in the end he didn’t die. Did you consider a heroic death for Chandler?
I didn’t think it was appropriate for Chandler to die. This show has always been about hope. We’re going to show you a lot of terrible things, we’re going to show you a virus that destroyed most of the planet, and killed in the most painful way; we’re going to show you people behaving really badly in the aftermath of an apocalypse, and we’re going to show you the fight to change the status quo of the planet as a result of this apocalypse. We’re going to show you tyrants; we’re also going to show you people acting honorably.
Chandler said at the end of Season 4, when he was confronting the villain, Dr. Vellek (Peter Weller), that being human doesn’t mean cutting out the dark, it means fighting to find a light. So although he watches his ship go down, and he sees [a vision of his dead] friends in Davy Jones’ locker, he finds the light. He hears his daughter’s voice and she’s the hope for the future. It was a very natural ending for him to swim back up to the surface and live to hopefully find some peace.
So where do you see Tom’s future? With Sasha (Bridget Regan) on the sailboat she envisions? Or saving the world again as POTUS?
The writer’s room had actually created an epilogue for the show, but in the end, the episode would have been too long and too expensive. I’m glad we never shot it; I actually like leaving that open for the audience. I do think that viewers know that he’s gone toward the light so they can see a hopeful future for him.
After his final kickass fight with Tavo’s guards, Wolf (Bren Foster) was shot multiple times. Since you seem to be ending with some hope, can we assume he’ll make it too?
I didn’t know when I hired him that he was a martial arts champion. When I found out we gave him some good fights, and at the end I wanted to give Wolf the mother of all fights. And yeah, he was shot, stabbed, punched in the groin and left bleeding out. But we see him being taken care of and my thinking is, he’s going to make it.
You denied Tavo what he so much desired — and maybe the audience — a final showdown with Tom Chandler, the hero he wanted to beat so he could prove he was his equal.
I didn’t want to give Tavo that satisfaction. He was so obsessed with Tom Chandler, that he took a reasonable philosophy [making things better for Latin America] and became delusional, becoming a tyrant because he wanted to be like Tom Chandler. One version of our script had him run away and then found and shot in a pigsty. But we decided that the final insult would be that Tom wouldn’t even bother to come and have a face-off with him.
Did five seasons give you the time to complete the story you wanted to tell?
Absolutely. Without leaving California, we were able to viewers from the North Pole, to Asia, the Mediterranean, and South America.. Would I have loved to have more seasons working with our partners in the Navy? Yes. But I feel like we told the show we needed to tell with Chandler at the end done with war and wanting to live in peace.
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The end was too rushed. After they pluck Chandler from the ocean, that's it, roll credits. They should've given The Last Ship a better send off than that. Another episode, or at least another 10-20 minutes would've wrapped up the show pretty good.
I did think it strange how Tavo's forces could've gotten an Iowa-class battleship. Since they're museum ships, the propellers are removed, and various parts of the engine are also removed and stored in a military facility. The 16-inch shells, last I heard, have been destroyed as has the powder to shoot them. I know, I know, gotta use suspension of belief, but still... BTW, how is it that the battleship crew could see the Nathan James from miles away and shoot it, but they don't notice it sailing right at them on a collision course? They didn't even aim the turrets to try shooting it. lol.
I liked seeing Tex again, hated that they killed him off, but really wished Rhona Mitra had made a cameo; the show was never as good when they killed her, IMO.
It was a fun episode, but it was too open-ended for my taste, needed an epilogue.
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I agree. The episode ran about 1 hr and 4 minutes. If it had been a full 1.5 hours, they would have had time to wrap up the details. * Also, I expected more to result from the embedded reporter. Her escort got killed, literally right in front of her, and she went on to film more. So what was done with that footage? Was it shown on TV? For Navy use only? What? And what about the female chopper squad? Did the James send out a rib to rescue them, or were they left to drown?
I'm not as familiar with the battleships as you seem to be, but how did the US not know that Gran Columbia had such a formidable vessel? And how did it hide from all surveillance a few weeks ago, when it did a sneak attack on the Nathan James?
I do think it's fitting, though that Chandler, while he didn't exactly "go down with the ship," was the one who ensured its destruction as a weapon against the mystery ship. It was his baby to command, and as admiral, it was his ship to destroy.
* My guess is that the power that be might have wanted the viewers' last image or thought to be about Tom and the ship. Maybe that's why there wasn't anything else after that.
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Another site...QUESTION: "Did you even put in the phone call to Rhona Mitra, to her people? To actually show Rachel?"...
ANSWER by Steve Kane: "No. We did not. In fact, I shouldn’t say that – I was going to, but then she made it very clear on some of her social media postings that she was not happy with the way things ended with us, so I didn’t want to stir the pot. But I think the way it is now actually is more spectral, more interesting."...
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Exactly
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No matter what or where, Chandler always found time to be clean shaven.
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I agree with the other posters. There are enough loose ends to have a full hour epilogue episode...
...unless the series will somehow be resurrected...
...hmmm...
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With particular emphasis on "Admiral Chandler's one last time w/his passed friends and fellow military heroes," I must say that this was, without a doubt, the most creative, fulfilling, thoughtful and simply excellent series finale I have ever seen. Well done, folks! Everyone involved are to be commended.
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How come I just heard of this series?! Took me sleepless nights! Awesome casting 👏🏼👏🏼❤️
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I loved the last ship so much but the ending
Was a disappointment I might be a romantic but I love to see a happy ending families and friends together finally.also how did a ww2 barge out fox the Nathan James ,,,,bolloxs.
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Definitely should have been a 2-hour episode!
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This was a really great show lots of action and the cast was beyond words with some of the finest stars doing a wonderful job. This was my second rewatch of this fine series. Its too bad it didn't have a really proper ending to show the final disposition of all living characters. It could have had at least another 20 minutes to tie it up. So sad. But a really really good series.
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Yes, this was an action-packed episode (can't believe the 'casualties' in the landing battle, but I did have to roll my eyes a little at the Tom-centric stuff. Did he really hear that ship, or was he guessing? Where was the ship when the James couldn't find it? Who was that ship's captain--he was certainly better at his job than Tavo was. I did like seeing all the characters who had died, or been severely injured, but on the other hand I would also have liked to see a little follow-up. Did Wolf survive? Did the guy who had lost his leg marry his southern-belle girlfriend? What about Tom's kids? And the young Annapolis student who 'predicted' the attack on the computer systems? Lastly, about Tavo... it seemed that his obsession with Chandler was only 'created' in the last 2-3 episodes. And as for Tavo's wife, I expected more about her and her stupid occult ideas. Maybe SHE was the one obsessed by Chandler, and simply put suggestions in her husband's head.
Interesting, though, about the US Marine Corps deciding to become involved in this show. It was a good addition.
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I think it would have been an interesting idea to have one follow up episode to allow all of the story threads to be tied up. It would be nice to see if Danny followed through and this was his last mission so he would return to his wife and kids. It would also be good to see how the POTUS was affected after putting himself before his country and then seeing someone selflessly giving his like to save him. As for Tavo's obsession with Chandler, they showed him being somewhat obsessed early in the season but they had it build, much like his overall paranoia about those around him and how he began executing people. I definitely agree with you about the wife. They really didn't develop much with her as far as her motivation only that she could manipulate Tavo. I think they did a pretty good job showing Miller will be with his new girlfriend. I do think they should have also showed him and others viewing the reporters footage since Burke had his message to Miller recorded. I think it is safe to assume Wolf survived since we last see him alive and being taken care of medically. As you said, it is a shame they didn't show the battleship's captain. The battleship really didn't factor much into this season except for briefly during one episode, Tom's possible paranoia about it in another, and the final scene at the end.
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I really wanted to see the battle ship Chandler was hearing and how they were able to see and fire at the james without them knowing
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what does it mean when Chandler saw some of the dead folks and they started saying 'We have the watch' ?
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It was a great season and I really enjoy shows that can set up a final season. That's why Episode 5 - when scenes of the James crew at home were cut in with that firefight - was so great in that it kind of gave the "after" for these characters ahead of the finale. We saw the older brother survived the previous season's attack but lost a leg, the other guy met his future wife, Chandler was at home with his family etc. The best part of the show for me was how you got invested in even the minor characters, the people who only had a few lines every week, but they were always there. A great final season, and it went a lot deeper (no pun intended) than I expected. I figured the last shot would be the ship "sailing off into the sunset."
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The Battleships big guns fire projectiles like a gun like the 50 on the James not rockets so to my knowledge it has no electronic signature to trace and is to small on radar. As for not being seen he always stayed outside the horizon! I am no expert but Battleships were dangerous and just got redundant and old not fully obsolete
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That was him deciding to live or die.
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Another question/ issue I wonder about.... Sasha, Wolf, and Azima--none of them are USN personnel. Maybe Wolf was some sort of "liaison" from his home country, but Sasha wasn't currently commissioned (no rank) and Azima--I don't know how she got into the group. AFAIK the US Navy doesn't simply allow people to join combat missions because we like them and think they'd do a good job. Especially with that 5-year (?) time jump for the current season, when we didn't have to rely on any allies we came across at a perilous moment.
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I thought the ending was just perfect. The fact that the writers dictated the ending and did not wait for the show to run its course and be eventually canceled was very satisfying. A fantastic show, with a wonderful ending. It left just enough to the imagination.
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Actually it was, but they made a series wrap.
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