The Last Frontier premieres today on Apple TV+, and it is created by Jon Bokenkamp and Richard D’Ovidio. Bokenkamp is known for his series, The Blacklist, and the new series will feature the game of cat and mouse between the good guys and bad guys. It stars Jason Clarke as a lone U.S. marshal in Alaska tasked with capturing escaped prisoners.
Possible spoilers ahead for the first two episodes of The Last Frontier.
“Well, I think there’s something I like about the scope of it,” Bokenkamp tells Nerd Reactor about The Blacklist and The Last Frontier. “Whether it’s Raymond Reddington or Havlock, there’s sort of a boogie man who has been created for one reason, right? For spy craft, for whatever reason. And that boogie man decides to flip the script and sort of use his tricks, his knowledge, his training for some other agenda.
“And I guess there is a bit of a similar DNA there, you pointed out, this sort of heightened bad guy. But I think what’s compelling about it is when you take that and try to ground it and make it as real as possible, as ridiculous as it may be, to play it as real as possible. I think there’s an interesting tone there that I’m compelled by.”
Cooper, who portrays Havlok, doesn’t see his character as the villain.
“Is Havlok a criminal?” Cooper asked. “I’ve never really seen him as one. I see him as a person who has been well accused of something and made to feel like he’s a criminal. I love playing parts like this. I’ve never had such a rich part in terms of having the full 10 episodes at our fingertips before we started. So you don’t have to make up the history of these characters. You have it all before you, and you have flashbacks. So you have the past, the present, and possibly ideas of what the future holds.”
The actor is no stranger to playing highly intelligent characters, since he portrayed Howard Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“So you have a wealth of information. Someone like Howard Stark, although in saying that, you have the comics and you conform and create a really wonderful, exciting and fun character to play. They are both wonderful. Villainous characters are often great fun. And this man, Levi Hartman, has a moral gray area, but also these complex relationships within the people within the show. And I enjoyed doing every moment of them.”
About The Last Frontier
The Last Frontier follows Frank Remnick (Jason Clarke), the lone U.S. marshal in charge of the quiet, rugged barrens of Alaska. Remnick’s jurisdiction is turned upside-down when a prison transport plane crashes in the remote wilderness, setting free dozens of violent inmates. Tasked with protecting the town he’s vowed to keep safe, he begins to suspect the crash wasn’t an accident, but the first step of a well-crafted plan with far-reaching and devastating implications.
In addition to Clarke, the ensemble cast includes Dominic Cooper (“The Gold”), Haley Bennett (“The Magnificent Seven”), Simone Kessell (“Yellowjackets”), Dallas Goldtooth (“Reservation Dogs”), and Tait Blum (“For All Mankind”), with Academy Award Nominee and multi-Emmy winner Alfre Woodard (“Clemency”).
Hailing from Apple Studios, “The Last Frontier” is executive produced by Bokenkamp and D’Ovidio, who also serve as writers, alongside Clarke, Laura Benson (“The Big C”), Glenn Kessler (“Bloodlines”), Albert Kim (“Nikita”), and series episodic director Sam Hargrave (“Extraction”).
