‘Jack Ryan’ Meets ‘The Walking Dead’ in Netflix’s 5-Part Apocalypse Series

Jeffrey is a freelance features writer at Collider. He is an MPA-accredited entertainment journalist and a Tomatometer-approved critic based in the LA area. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science in Radio, TV, & Film and a Bachelor of Arts in Theater.

The 2010s were truly a golden age of television, with an explosion of prestige, high-concept television shows. Cable networks reached their peak in quality programming, with the USA Network featuring top shows like Suits and Burn Notice. Meanwhile, AMC saw the birth of the juggernaut series known as The Walking Dead. Another great series that debuted on TNT in 2014 was a high-quality action-drama television show that mixed military thriller intrigue with a viral post-apocalyptic premise. We’re talking about the epic five-season cataclysmic series, The Last Ship, which comes off as an exciting mix of The Walking Dead meets Jack Ryan.

‘The Last Ship’ Featured an Apocalyptic Premise

Loosely based on the 1988 novel of the same name by William Brinkley, The Last Ship depicted the adventures of the crew of the U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer vessel, the USS Nathan James. Set during the present day, the series depicts a world that’s rocked by a global viral pandemic. The devastating virus wipes out over 80% of the world’s population, and it now falls on the crew of the Nathan James, led by the valiant and noble Commander Tom Chandler (the late great Eric Dane), to lead a mission to find a cure to the virus and save both humanity and the civilized world.

Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.

Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.

Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.

Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.

Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.

Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.

The Last Ship alters the premise of its literary namesake, which dealt with a nuclear apocalypse, rather than one brought about by a virus. The idea of an apocalypse virus bringing humanity to the brink of extinction works much better in the post-Cold War era, after Brinkley wrote his novel, when fears lingered over nuclear proliferation and mutually assured destruction. Plus, The Walking Dead had just debuted on AMC several years earlier to great acclaim and success. The latter, based on Robert Kirkman’s celebrated comic book series, showcases the collapse of human civilization after a virus spreads across the globe, turning humans into zombies, or legions of undead walkers. The Last Ship similarly depicts humanity and world governments collapsing, with politicians, splinter groups, and survivors scrambling for control.

‘The Last Ship’ Adds Geopolitical Spy-Thriller Intrigue To Its Post-Apocalyptic Premise

• Image via TNT

• Image via TNT

• Image via TNT

• Image by TNT

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Image via TNT

Image via TNT

Image via TNT

Image by TNT

• Image via TNT

• Image via TNT

• Image via TNT

• Image by TNT

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Image via TNT

Image via TNT

Image via TNT

Image by TNT

The viral pandemic devastating the globe is just one aspect of The Last Ship. The series is an immersive geopolitical, military-themed spy thriller. With the crew of the Nathan James taking point on efforts to find a cure to the Red Flu virus, they face dangers from various factions, including rogue politicians, conspirators, mad scientists, religious zealots, and military factions, all of whom are jockeying to seize power or control over the cure for the Red Flu in the apocalyptic aftermath. Commander Chandler and his loyal crew attempt to fight not only for the hope of the survivors and their loved ones, but for the ideals of freedom they hold dear, at a time when global civilization is nearing a complete and utter collapse.

The show’s geopolitical and spy-thriller aspects resemble fan-favorite shows like Jack Ryan. Case in point: Secretary of Defense Amy Granderson (Alfre Woodard), who seizes control of the White House and becomes a major villain to the crew of the Nathan James. She attempts to take control over the distribution of the cure, while also committing unforgivable acts of mass genocide against survivors, using their bodies as fuel for electricity. Season 3 introduces another exciting political conspiracy subplot with the diabolical Alison Shaw (Elisabeth Röhm), who attempts a coup against the United States government before she’s eventually stopped by Commander Chandler. Between the intrigue of geopolitical and espionage-themed subplots and the globe-spanning apocalypse, The Last Ship provides a mix of world-ending, harrowing drama and intense, grounded, and gritty action in every one of its 56 episodes.

‘The Last Ship’ Featured an Unforgettable Cast

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