When the action heats up in "Last Resort," the new ABC TV series being shot in Hawaii, the crew of the submarine USS Colorado is under attack after refusing to fire its nuclear missiles at Pakistan.
But don’t mistake the Tom Clancy-esque maneuvers that follow for a predictable plot. This may be a complex production with lots of location shots, water sequences and special effects, but its creators — Shawn Ryan and Karl Gajdusek — insist they’re delivering a human drama.
"This is not a franchise kind of show where you have a murder-of-the-week to frame episodes around," Ryan said in a phone interview. "This is a show that doesn’t have a natural unbending spine to it. Stories can go in lots of different directions, so that is part of the appeal. But a show like that, if you are not careful, can lose its way."
Ryan is versed in the genre of life-and-death action; he created the gritty FX cop drama "The Shield," with its anti-heroes and unapologetic violence. But the 45-year-old writer/producer also knows how to fashion a buddy relationship, which he accomplished in "Terriers," a short-lived FX series about best friends who start a detective agency.
"Last Resort" will blend those two elements as Andre Braugher, starring as submarine commander Capt. Marcus Chaplin, teams with Scott Speedman, who plays his executive officer Sam Kendal.
Ryan and Gajdusek, both of whom will serve as executive producers, saw Braugher as their lead from the beginning. The role is difficult because it’s not clear, at least in the pilot, if Braugher’s character is doing the right thing or going off the deep end, Ryan said.
"You need someone who in a very subtle way can play both sides of that coin," Ryan said. "Someone who can convey as much with a look as with a line and someone who can also nail a big 21⁄2-minute monologue at the end, which Andre does."
Ryan is referring to the sternly worded conclusion, seen on "Last Resort" promotional trailers and in Ryan tweets: "You’ve been warned."
Gajdusek, who wrote the 2011 film "Trespass" starring Nicholas Cage and Nicole Kidman and served as story editor on the TV series "Dead Like Me," said Braugher was drawn to the script.
"It was a beautiful marriage," the 44-year-old Gajdusek said. "It was convincing him on the page, showing him we were the writers who could bring him on a good journey."
The 50-year-old Braugher is perhaps best known for his role as Det. Frank Pembleton in "Homicide: Life on the Street," which won him an Emmy for lead actor in 1998. More recently, he impressed viewers with his role as a middle-aged man in crisis on TNT’s "Men of a Certain Age."
Ryan has known Speedman for 14 years and believes the 36-year-old actor has arrived at the perfect point in his career to play this role. He has grown up from the "boyish but sophisticated" role he had in the TV series "Felicity," which aired from 1998-2002. He likens him to George Clooney in "E.R.," Matthew Fox in "Lost" and Patrick Dempsey in "Grey’s Anatomy."
"Scott is at that age where he is fully a man and yet newly a man," Ryan said. "Those characters are always interesting to write because they still have a lot to learn and can still make mistakes and yet can still be the hero as well."
Ryan believes firmly "Last Resort" has broad appeal, is "more female friendly" and is "a lot more emotional" than his most recent work. But you never know for sure until the viewers weigh in. (The series will premiere locally at 7 p.m. Sept. 27 on KITV.)
"Put that all together and you’ve got a very high-risk, high-reward kind of show," he said. "We’re hoping the risk pays off, but it is very much a high-wire act."
AND that’s a wrap. …
Mike Gordon is the Star-Advertiser’s film and television writer. Read his Outtakes Online blog at honolulupulse.com. Reach him at 529-4803 or email mgordon@staradvertiser.com.
