We all love a big, rousing inspirational speech, and Christie Burke, star of the SYFY series The Ark, delivered. The inspiration behind the speech Burke gave as her character, Lieutenant Garnet, came from both the likeliest, and unlikeliest of places: the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama.
In an after-show interview with SYFY, Burke revealed, "I was really trying to inspire everybody and Dean [Devlin] used Obama and all these different leaders as examples of how he wanted Garnet to give speeches. And so, I was like, 'I'm never gonna be Obama. He's amazing.'" Obama is amazing, and he is definitely some big shoes to fill when it comes to inspiration!
Garnet's speech was filmed in Serbia and took three days to shoot, and Burke recalled how overwhelmed she felt: "I was so jet-lagged and I couldn't stop crying. I was trying to do the speech and Dean was like, 'Get it together!' And I was like, 'But everyone's so beautiful and I'm so inspired by these people!' It is such a beautiful speech and really empowering." In a harrowing and potentially dangerous situation, people need all the hope they can get, and no one can't really go wrong with choosing Obama as inspiration for any speech on The Ark.
What is the Premise of The Ark?
The Ark, set 100 years in the future, takes place on board the spacecraft known as Ark One. It suffers a catastrophic event one year before reaching its destination, which causes major damage and multiple deaths. What's left of the crew have to work together to stay on track, stay on course, and survive. In addition to Burke, the show stars Ryan Adams, Miles Barrow, Lisa Brenner, Richard Fleeshman, Stacey Read, Reece Ritchie, Tiana Upcheva, Pavle Jerinić, Shalini Peiris, and Christina Wolfe. Devlin, who directed the pilot, is known for Independence Day and Stargate and co-runs the show with Jonathan Glassner. Devlin and Glassner also serve as executive producers along with Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan-Wilson of Electric Entertainment. Jonathan English of Balkanic Media and Steve Lee serve as producers.
The Ark premiered February 1 on SYFY, but you can watch new episodes of the show on SYFY every Wednesday, at 10 p.m. Eastern. If you can't access SYFY, the newest episodes will be on Peacock the day after they air. Watch the entire after-show interview with Burke below: