Last Resort (TV series)


Last Resort is an American military drama television series that aired on ABC from September 27, 2012, to January 24, 2013. The series was created by Shawn Ryan and Karl Gajdusek, and produced by Sony Pictures Television. On November 16, 2012, ABC announced that the series would not be picked up for another season, and the show finished with its original 13 episodes.

Plot

When the crew of the U.S. Navy Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, the USS Colorado, pick up a U.S. Navy SEAL team off Pakistan's coast, the Colorado receives an order to launch nuclear ballistic missiles at Pakistan.
Colorados Commanding Officer, Captain Marcus Chaplin, asks for confirmation of the firing order because the orders were received through a legacy Cold War secondary communication channel, only to be used in the event that Washington, D.C., has already been destroyed. After confirming Washington's continued existence and refusing to fire the missiles until the command is sent through the proper system, Chaplin is relieved of command by the Deputy Secretary of Defense William Curry, and the Colorados second in command, Lieutenant Commander Sam Kendal, is given command instead. When Kendal also questions the orders and asks for confirmation, the vessel is fired upon by the Virginia-class attack submarine USS Illinois . Two nuclear missile strikes are subsequently made on Pakistan by other U.S. submarines.
Realizing they have been declared enemies of their own country, the Colorado seeks refuge on the island of Sainte Marina and commandeer a NATO communications and early missile warning facility. When a pair of B-1 bombers is sent to attack the submarine and island, Chaplin launches a Trident nuclear missile towards Washington, D.C., to impress upon the national leadership that he's serious. The B-1s turn away at the last minute, but Chaplin allows the missile to visibly overfly Washington, D.C., and explode beyond in the open Atlantic, the explosion clearly visible from both Washington and New York City. Via a television feed to the media, he then declares a 200-mile exclusion zone around Sainte Marina.
Now, the crew must find a way to prove their innocence and find out who in the U.S. government has set them up, so they can finally return home.
As the series progresses, Chaplin finds himself having to become a reluctant ally with China, while trying to keep his own crew, led by Chief of the Boat Joseph Prosser, from rebelling against him. He must also combat the schemes of the local drug lord Julian Serrat. The series also follows the efforts of Kylie Sinclair, a weapons designer back home who allies with Christine Kendal, the wife of the Colorados XO, to discern the truth behind the nuclear attack on Pakistan and the Colorados fugitive status. An ongoing subplot involves a Navy SEAL named James King who, wracked with guilt over his role in the events leading to the nuking of Pakistan, cultivates a romance with one of the island's residents while surreptitiously aiding the XO.
The series concludes with a series of mutinies, ending with the Colorado destroyed with Chaplin still on board, the surviving crew returning home to the United States, the President assassinated, and the full story made public when Kylie Sinclair arranges for proof of the president and his administration's traitorous activities to be handed over to the press.

Cast and characters

Main

greenlit the pilot in January 2012, allowing filming to begin. The show was filmed in Oahu, Hawaii, and produced by Sony Pictures Television. Thirteen episodes were ordered, and on October 19, 2012, ABC ordered two additional scripts for the series.
On November 16, 2012, ABC announced that they would not be taking on Last Resort for a full season, but would air the 13 episodes that had been produced. They also passed on producing the two additional scripts that had been ordered.
On November 21, 2012, the producers revealed they had been given sufficient notice of the network's cancellation plans so they could "tweak" the final episode to function as a series finale and give the fans some closure.

Episodes

International broadcast

In Canada, the show was simsubbed on Global. Sony's AXN channel aired the show in Asia from October 2, 2012. Within Oceania, Australia aired the series on the Seven Network from February 20, 2013, and debuted in New Zealand on Four on May 14, 2014. Last Resort aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Sky1 from October 30, 2012.

Home video release

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 79% with an average score of 7.3 out of 10 based on 42 reviews. The website's critical consensus is, "Last Resort is a top-notch conspiracy thriller, with cinema-quality production and riveting action sequences." On Metacritic, the series has a score of 74 out of 100 based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

Cancellation and future plans

In an interview on Kevin Pollak's Chat Show, Shawn Ryan expressed disappointment but acknowledged that the cancellation of Last Resort was not a huge surprise. He said, "Our ratings had been on the cusp, or really below the cusp, for a few weeks now. It didn't come as a huge shock." He pointed out the tough competition, stating, "We're up against The Big Bang Theory, The X Factor, NFL games... it's a brutal time slot." He also explained the strategic placement of the show in the 8 p.m. Thursday slot, stating, "They thought was a big, bold concept that would attract people." However, he added, "The addition of weekly NFL games... may not have been fully accounted for."
Regarding the future of the series, Ryan revealed that they had ambitious plans for the second half of the season. The last nine episodes were set to shift from survival to exploring how the island became a symbol for a certain group of people. New characters, such as Marcus's surviving son, would have played key roles. Ryan mentioned, "We had definite plans on where we were going to go," with storylines like Christine's rescue and the discovery of valuable minerals on the island. These developments would have expanded the narrative into more complex territory.
Andre Braugher also expressed his frustration with Last Resort's abrupt cancellation, saying, “It ended abruptly, and we had to scramble to create order where none existed.” While disappointed, he added, “Better to end like that than just be told to go home and leave it incomplete.” He also acknowledged, “I had a lot of hopes for that series, but it never came together as it should have.”