The Ark is an American science fiction television series created by Dean Devlin for Syfy, with Devlin and Jonathan Glassner serving as showrunners for the series. The first season consists of twelve episodes and premiered on February 1, 2023. The series stars Christie Burke as Lt. Sharon Garnet who becomes the de facto captain of an interstellar spacecraft after a disaster. It also stars Reece Ritchie, Richard Fleeshman, Stacey Michelle Read, Ryan Adams, Pavle JeriniÃÂ, Shalini Peiris, Christina Wolfe, and Tiana Upcheva.
In April 2023, the series was renewed for a second season consisting of twelve episodes, which premiered on July 17, 2024. In March 2025, the series was renewed for a third season, which is set to premiere in 2026.
A hundred years in the future, a vast spacecraft known as Ark One is shuttling a complement of would-be colonists away from a devastated Earth to a new home, Proxima Centauri B. The ship suffers a catastrophic event that kills almost all of the technical crew and all of the ship's senior officers. The survivors must work to reorganize themselves to maintain the ship and stay on course to reach their destination.
The premise is very similar to the 1970s series The Starlost, in which a multi-generational starship called Earthship Ark was launched to allow the passengers to escape a dying Earth. More than 100 years into the voyage, an unexplained accident occurs, and the ship goes into emergency mode. The survivors have to figure out how to safely pilot the starship.
The Ark went straight-to-series in late January 2022 with a 12-episode order from Syfy. Principal photography began at PFI Studios in Belgrade, Serbia in March of that year. Dean Devlin and Jonathan Glassner serve as showrunners and producers.
In March 2022, it was announced that the regular cast of the series had been set, with Christie Burke starring as Lt. Sharon Garnet, along with Richard Fleeshman, Reece Ritchie, Stacey Read, and newcomer Ryan Adams. In April 2022, it was announced that Lisa Brenner would be a recurring guest star, playing Commander Susan Ingram, with Christina Wolfe, Shalini Peiris, Miles Barrow, Pavle JeriniÃÂ, and Tiana Upcheva also recurring.
On April 12, 2023, Syfy renewed the series for a second season. On March 5, 2025, Syfy renewed the series for a third season, which is set to release in 2026.
The series trailer was released in December 2022. It premiered on Syfy on February 1, 2023, with episodes to be streamed the next day on Peacock. A second season premiered on July 17, 2024.
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported a 50% approval rating based on 14 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "The core concept of The Ark ought to be alluring enough for the sci-fi faithful, but blasé writing and chintzy production values call into question whether this particular world is worth preserving." Metacritic assigned a score of 50 out of 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".