When a global pandemic kills 80% of the world’s population, an American naval ship commander and his stalwart crew become the world’s last chance at survival. As their onboard doctors and scientists search for a cure, the officers of the USS Nathan James do everything in their power to protect them from the unknown threats of this post-apocalyptic world. Created by Steven Kane (Halo) and Hank Steinberg (Without a Trace), The Last Ship ran for five seasons, from 2014 to 2018. Executive produced by Michael Bay (Transformers), the action-packed drama stars Euphoria and Grey’s Anatomy actor Eric Dane, who died in 2026 following a battle with ALS.
The series also features many prominent guest stars, like Alfre Woodard (The Boroughs), Jodie Turner-Smith (White Noise), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear), Titus Welliver (Bosch), Jackson Rathbone (Twilight), Mark Moses (Desperate Housewives), and Dichen Lachman (Severance).
As the decorated Captain Tom Chandler (Dane) prepares to take command of a naval destroyer for a weapons-testing mission to the Arctic Circle that’ll last the next four months (or so he thinks), he’s unexpectedly joined by Dr. Rachel Scott (Mitra), a beleaguered virologist who wants to hitch a ride for research purposes. While the crew of the USS Nathan James completes their mission under radio silence per the orders of the president, Dr. Scott takes day trips out onto the ice, with a handful of the ship’s crew for protection, where she collects ice samples from avian feeding grounds that she’s testing at her makeshift lab on the ship. At first, Dr. Scott is the least of Captain Chandler’s worries — until a group of Russian combatants ambush her team during an excursion to collect samples. The team manages to get away, but barely. Once safely on board, Dr. Scott is grilled by Captain Chandler, who demands to know the truth about why she’s really there.
Nothing could have prepared him for her answer: Dr. Scott has been collecting samples of a primordial strain of an airborne virus that reemerged in Cairo four months ago. The virus has now multiplied and spread around the globe, killing billions of people. Governments are collapsing worldwide, and those still alive are desperately searching for places remote enough to isolate. Dr. Scott hopes that, by studying the ancient virus strain alongside its modern iteration, she’ll be able to develop a vaccine. Her mission was top secret, she says, but now that other countries have discovered her location, they’ll stop at nothing to acquire the cure. Suddenly Captain Chandler is in charge of the most dangerous mission of his life. The crew of the Nathan James is humanity’s last hope.
Yes, the series is loosely based on the 1988 post-apocalyptic novel of the same name by William Brinkley. However, there’s one major difference: In the novel, the inciting incident is not a pandemic but nuclear war.
