‘The Last Ship’ Premiere: Recap, Spoilers & Cast Info

The Last Ship on TNT is a new series starring Eric Dane, Adam Baldwin and Rhona Mitra. Film-maker Michael Bay executive produces the show and it’s based on William Brinkley’s popular novel “The Last Ship.” As the world faces a global catastrophe, Commander Chandler, Dr. Scott, and “the last ship” are the only hope for finding the cure to a deadly virus that has killed off most of the world’s population. Read on for the premiere recap and some spoilers from Episode 2 as well.


In the first scene, a helicopter lands with a female doctor named Rachel Scott who comes to take blood from infected victims of an unidentified, very deadly disease. Dr. Scott later arrives at U.S. Naval Station in Norfolk Virginia and meets Commander Chandler.

The show skips to four months later when Commander Chandler’s ship is on a mission in icy waters under radio silence. As Dr. Rachel Scott is on a snowy mountain to attain samples of some kind, she is forced to return to the ship before she’s gotten all the samples she’s wanted. As Dr. Scott confronts Chandler, it’s clear the two get on each other’s nerves, but also clear that they have a mounting attraction for each other.

Despite Chandler’s instructions, Dr. Scott goes behind his back and requests further time on their mission, which is granted. All of a sudden, when Dr. Scott is back investigating on the snowy mountain, several Russian helicopters approach and begin to fire at Dr. Scott and the navy’s military police who are guarding them. Scott tries to keep her “samples” safe under fire and the navy is able to take one of the attackers hostage. In the meantime, the ship is under attack as well, but they prevail. The hostage reveals that he and his Russian attackers are in search of “the cure.”

Though Dr. Scott gets shot, she is fine. Chandler corners Dr. Scott and forces her to reveal what she’s been working on. It comes out that a virus has expanded to a global pandemic while they have been under radio silence. Dr. Scott is under strict orders from the White House, the world is dying, and Scott is trying to create a vaccine. When the White House gets in contact with Chandler, it’s revealed that the President and Vice President died a couple months ago from the virus and the Speaker of the House is now the acting President.

As the ship aims to get fuel in France, the commander and crew worry about their loved ones and most of them received bad news from those who they got in touch with. All of a sudden, Europe gets nuked and its unknown where the bomb came from or who fired it. The ship loses all power from the blast, but the commander saves the day by allowing himself to get shocked in order to restart their systems so they can escape radiation. Soon, they encounter a cruise ship and attempt to make contact, but the cruise ship has been consumed by the virus. Bodies after bodies are uncovered on the ship, with one remaining victim still alive. Dr. Scott takes a sample of his blood and they move on to continue to take as many goods and food as they can. In their haste, one of the sailors (Frankie) falls and his mask comes out, exposing him to the virus. The sailor then refuses to come back with the crew, knowing he’ll infect everyone else and fires a bullet into his head in front of one of his buddies, Dr. Scott, and Commander Chandler.

Dr. Scott finds out that another mutation of the virus has been created, meaning the virus has been weaponized. The ship then receives orders from the President that Norfolk is not safe for them. These orders come five days after they’ve been sent. Chandler receives a video message from his wife that she and his children are staying at the family’s mountain cabin away from everything and they’re all healthy. She also reveals that their other family members have passed away.

There is a couple on the ship (Danny Green and Kara Foster) who are secretly dating, but are worried about what they will return home to … Meanwhile, Dr. Scott must try to find a cure for the virus while on board the ship because they may not be able to get to a lab for her to work at … Chandler reveals that the crew will not be returning home and that they have only a third of the amount of bio-hazard suits for the crew members. There are not enough for each sailor. With no answer from any ports or the White House, Chandler tells the crew that their mission is to stay alive aboard the ship until they are able to find a cure. Their aim is Guantanamo Bay for more supplies and in the last scene it’s revealed that Dr. Scott’s partner in medicine (Dr. Quincy Tophet) is a spy … And, that’s where the first episode leaves us.


Here’s a couple spoilers for episode 2:

– Dr. Quincy Tophet tells the enemy via phone that the ship is heading for Guantanamo Bay and he is instructed to try to stall them.

– The young navy couple begins to fall apart because the sailor Danny is having difficulty coping with everything going on … the death of sailor Frankie, the deaths of all their relatives, etc.

– The Executive Officer (Slattery) is having a hard time trusting Dr. Scott because she kept her mission secret from them for months.

– While the spy attempts to leave the ship at Gitmo, Commander Chandler insists that the two doctors remain on board while they retrieve goods from the facilities on land.

– Dr. Quincy Tophet is caught trying to tamper with some of the wires on the ship, but weasels his way out of the situation.

– When the team reaches Gitmo, they encounter a man who is alive and on their side, but they also run into members of Al Qaida who are on the attack. When a member of the team is shot, Dr. Scott goes on land to help. Scott saves the sailor’s life.