The Most Realistic Sci-Fi Viral Apocalypse Is The Latest Streaming Success On Netflix

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 21 seconds ago

Imagine a doomsday virus has been unleashed that kills off 80 percent of the world’s population. The only hope for humanity is a United States warship in the middle of the ocean, blissfully unaware of what’s happened. That’s the basic plot of the TNT series, The Last Ship, that’s now available for streaming on Netflix where it debuted in the top ten. It’s taken on new meaning in a post-Covid world, but the post-apocalyptic sci-fi series has enough twists and turns to overcome any real world trauma. 

The Last Ship Is Humanity’s Last Hope

The Last Ship stars Eric Dane as Commander Tom Chandler and Adam Baldwin as Commander Mike Slattery, though both men wind up in different positions by the end of the show’s fifth season. It starts out simple enough, the U.S.S. Nathan James picks up a pair of scientists, learns about the viral outbreak, and the choice is made to keep sailing so the researchers can work on a vaccine. If only it really was that simple. 

The Nathan James is a massive warship but it still needs to come to port for supplies. You’ll quickly learn that every time they make port, the crew is attacked by civilians, Russians, or those with a natural immunity to the virus who have formed a cult believing they should inherit the planet. As it turns out, the 2014 series accurately predicted in the face of a global pandemic, humanity won’t unite, it will fracture, adding a layer of global politics on top of the military action and race against time for a cure. 

The Story Was Too Complex For The Average Viewer

Released at the tail end of TNT’s foray into original series, The Last Ship was a huge success during its first season. Over 5 million tuned in for the show’s premiere, and amazingly, it held at over 4 million for the entire first season. After Season 3, following a shift in tone, scope, and the mission of the Nathan Jones crew, viewers tuned out by the millions. Which is unfortunate, as the show rose to the occasion and finished strong. 

In a brilliant move, The Last Ship has the crew develop a vaccine fairly early in the series, but that then raises the question of how do they get it to the population, why should other countries trust them, and hold on a minute, how did the virus ravage the planet in the first place? Thankfully, every question is answered by the finale, and to get there, you’ll also get to enjoy multiple action setpieces each season that have the budget and cinematography of a major movie behind them. 

The Last Ship adapts the 1988 novel of the same name, and for anyone who read the book, while the series does have a dark ending, it’s not the same. Considering the Cold War origins of the novel, it does make sense that the Russians become the primary villain for the crew of the Nathan Jones. Don’t let that stop you from checking out the series on Netflix. Few shows dive into the realities of the post-apocalypse like The Last Ship, and if nothing else, you get to experience Eric Dane’s best performance.