Saving the world again: ‘The Last Ship’ prepares to conclude its voyage

Since premiering in 2014, TNT’S action-drama “The Last Ship” has been a rollercoaster of high-stakes missions, tumultuous political tensions and shocking acts of betrayal, and the series is expected to go out on a high note as its fifth and final season approaches its conclusion.

Based on the popular William Brinkley novel of the same name, the show follows the crew of a navy destroyer that is stuck at sea and unable to find a safe port after its crew learns that a virus has wiped out 80 per cent of Earth’s population. What’s ensued over five seasons is a fastpaced saga in which the crew attempted to gain intel on the state of the world and ultimately deliver a cure to the survivors. The penultimate episode of “The Last Ship” airs Sunday, Nov. 4, on TNT.

The show’s unique setting and dire apocalyptic plot are what initially drew in many fans; the characters’ isolation and limited knowledge of what’s happening in the world make for a story that’s rich in nail-biting tension. In an interview with Empire, executive producer and co-creator Steven Kane said that from the beginning of the project, he was “totally drawn to the idea of a crew and navy ship being the key to Earth’s survival.” Now in the last season, it seems as though the world is beginning to rebuild itself, but new and unexpected enemies have emerged for Commander Tom Chandler (Eric Dane, “Grey’s Anatomy”) and his crew, and this time they have to stave off a world war in the making.

Since the series’ genesis, when the crew of the USS Nathan

James first learned about the Red Flu virus outbreak, the characters have been through a whirlwind of obstacles in their attempts to salvage humanity. Much of the first two seasons dealt with Center for Disease Control virologist Dr. Rachel Scott (Rhona Mitra, “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans,” 2009) working on developing a vaccine for the virus, a plan that was compromised by the private interests of several antagonists, including a radical group of “Immunes” who wished to spread the plague and assert themselves as Earth’s inheritors, as well as several world governments that attempted to use the plague as an opportunity for global political control.