Jashandeep Singh
The filming of Apple TV+’s upcoming drama series ‘The Last Frontier’ has been delayed due to the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. The show was supposed to go into production in October 2023 in Montréal, Québec, with the shoot scheduled to last until May 2024. The series revolves around “U.S. Marshal Frank Remnick, the lone Marshal in charge of the quiet, rugged barrens of Alaska, whose 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 international political implications.”
The delayed filming of the series in Montreal may only begin after the conclusion of the two ongoing strikes. The city is one of the major entertainment production hubs in the country along with Vancouver and Toronto. John Krasinski-starrer ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan,’ Joaquin Phoenix-starrer ‘Beau Is Afraid,’ Amy Adams-starrer ‘Arrival,’ Netflix’s thriller series ‘The Recruit,’ Darren Aronofsky’s ‘Mother!’ etc. are some of the popular projects filmed in the city.
Apple TV+ commissioned ‘The Last Frontier’ in February 2023, with Jon Bokenkamp and Richard D’Ovidio coming on board as creators and executive producers. Bokenkamp is best known for creating NBC’s crime series ‘The Blacklist’ and for writing Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke-starrer ‘Taking Lives,’ Halle Berry and Bruce Willis-starrer ‘Perfect Strangers,’ and ‘The Call.’ D’Ovidio, on the other hand, is known for writing/co-writing ‘Hypnotic,’ ‘The Forger,’ ‘The Call,’ etc.
‘The Last Frontier’ stars Jason Clarke as U.S. Marshal Frank Remnick. The 54-year-old actor is known for playing Daniel Stanton in ‘Zero Dark Thirty,’ George Wilson in ‘The Great Gatsby,’ Emil Stenz in ‘White House Down,’ Malcolm in ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,’ and Lewis Morgan in ‘The Aftermath.’ He was also appreciated for his role as Judge Roger Robb in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer.’ The rest of the cast of the show has not been announced yet.
The pilot episode is being helmed by ‘Extraction’ director Sam Hargrave. The director confirmed his involvement in the project in an interview with Collider in May 2023. “Yes, I’m doing a TV show for Apple at the end of the year up in Canada called The Last Frontier. Jon Bokenkamp wrote it and is show running it, and I’m gonna direct the pilot and the second and third episodes, and then executive produce for the series. It’s just a really great story with a great script,” he stated.
“Jason Clarke is starring as the lead. It’s a pretty fun story, just propulsive and thrilling. I think it’s gonna be a fun challenge because I haven’t really done anything in the TV space, and I love the idea of long-form storytelling and setting up this world that then other people can come in and riff on, and hopefully improve, and hopefully, the series goes on and on and on,” added Hargrave. Before venturing into filmmaking, Hargrave worked as a stunt coordinator on a number of films including ‘Avengers: Endgame’ and ‘Atomic Blonde.’
Meanwhile, ‘The Last Frontier’ is not the only series that has been impacted by the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. The production of several other shows, including ‘Virgin River’ Season 6, ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3, and ‘The Night Agent’ Season 2; and films, including Jackie Chan’s ‘Karate Kid’ and Adam McKay’s ‘Average Height, Average Build,’ has also been halted due to the strike.
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