How to survive a space disaster? ‘The Ark’ gathers answers, two by two

Shot in Serbia, the new series features a set that’s built like an actual spaceship – complete with walls, ceilings and corridors.

Creator Dean Devlin was equally smitten. “This tickled every creative bone I have,” he says. “It’s all the things that I love about making fiction.”

Set 100 years in the future, “The Ark” follows the exploits of space travelers who have to regroup after a catastrophic event has occurred, threatening their ability to reach their target planet.

Because many of the survivors don’t know each other, they’re unaware of their backstories.

To make that resonate with the actors, Devlin handled each an envelope that contained the character’s secrets. They weren’t supposed to share the contents with anyone.

“We were under pain of death told not to tell our fellow cast mates,” Richard Fleeshman says. “And that made it very exciting. People don’t stay the same colors throughout. People have moments of real light and then, go through tumultuous times as well.”

Although there isn’t a place for guest stars on the series, it does have the potential for plenty of stories. “There are 150 people on this ship and we haven’t met all of them,” says Executive Producer Jonathan Glassner. “We don’t have to have an outside force come to do it. We are doing our best to avoid having the ‘alien of the week.’ I don’t think we’ll ever go down that path, although never say never.”

While Serbia would seem an odd place to shoot a series, it actually made sense. Glassner shot “The Outpost” there because the area boasted plenty of castles that worked for the medieval show. “When that show was canceled, Dean sold this one and so we said, ‘Let’s keep that crew and keep those stages and set it up and do it there,’ even though we don’t need to ever leave the stage because we’re always on the ship.”

Filming in Serbia afforded the producers a chance to see actors from all over the world. The coast boasts actors from Zimbabwe, Spain, Canada and Serbia. “The story requires that it be an international crew,” Glassner says.

The cast often spent off-screen time together running lines and touring the country.

“It was a really interesting thing that happened because we are obviously playing this group of people who are thrust together in a very crazy situation,” Fleeshman says. “We sort of had this mirroring of real life where we were put into the middle of Eastern Europe, into this completely foreign land and we just had to basically come together. Thankfully, we did.”

Burke considers the four-and-a-half months “like the summer camp I never went to.”

To make sure the set didn’t feel claustrophobic (or “Das Boot” in space, as Devlin calls it), the production designer, Randall Grove, created areas with specifically different feelings. The observation deck, for example, has a gigantic window. The food growing area is more organic.

“It was carefully crafted to give you different environments so that you didn’t get tired of being on the ship and yet every set had a roof,” Devlin says. “So you felt like you were inside it. It was this balance of a pressure cooker with enough variety to make it not feel repetitive.”

Reece Ritchie was as bowled over by the setting as his fellow actors. More important? “The true secret of what both Jonathan and Dean do is that they’re so good at casting because everybody was just so energetic and bright and played their parts so intelligently, it made it such a joy to work on.”

That excitement was enhanced by Devlin’s envelope ploy. “As we progress through the 12 episodes, you come to realize that whether it’s nefarious or not, everybody has quite a complex backstory,” says Fleeshman. “The reason they’re on the ship isn’t always necessarily as it first appeared – which is obviously a great way of building it up and keeping people interested.”