Christie Burke Talks Unexpected Twists, Big Baddies & New Discoveries

There is no telling what kind of peril Captain Sharon Garnet (Christie Burke) and her ragtag crew are heading into during their recovery missions for Season 3 of The Ark. Where the Syfy series left off, the fearless leader of Ark One heard a mysterious distress signal from the Ross-128 planet. Another cliffhanger viewers were left with was what the mysterious alien stone tablet discovered by Angus Medford (Ryan Adams) meant for the crew and others settling into this new colony. 

For Burke, good things come to those who wait. The show from Dean Devlin and Jonathan Glassner returns July 29, nearly two years after the Season 2 finale aired. Whether it’s Ark One’s search for survivors in space or what’s uncovered back at Home Base 1, fans look in for quite the ride in the episodes to come. 

Here Burke teases the adventures and dangers ahead. 

Heading into Season 3, how is it for you to see the fans respond to the show the way they have? 

Christie Burke: I’m beyond grateful to the fans for tuning in every Wednesday. I’m also so excited to continue the story of Garnet and Arc One. I think it’s very rare an actor gets to go that long with a character and discover new sides to her. This season is so good! I can’t believe it. I read an article once of Dean saying Season 3 really should have been the beginning of The Ark. I truly believe that. I feel Season 3 is genuinely our best season. I can’t wait for fans to see it. There is just so much stuff that occurs. 

When we last left Season 2, there was the big cliffhanger of a distress signal. What can you tease in terms of what that means for the crew? 

It will all be revealed within the first episode of what that means. I think for Captain Garnet and the volunteers who have decided to go out on their search and rescue mission, that is their mission. They truly believe in rescuing the remaining Earth survivors that could potentially be out there. With that you get incredible storylines, new planets, new villains, maybe even a space station, new Arks. This season is so great because we split the two storylines apart where you have the crew on Home Base 1 trying to establish a new colony and then you have Captain Garnet going out on Ark One, going out and doing the search mission. Audiences are going to find storylines for everyone and all. There is so much that occurs. I’m blown away by Jonathan Glassner and the writing team. I genuinely, without giving too much away, it’s insane. I think we finished shooting almost a year ago, and I’m like, “I can’t believe we did all that.” It’s crazy. 

“I Have Nightmares” Episode 307. Pictured: Tiana Upcheva as Eva Markovic and Christie Burke as Sharon Garnet in THE ARK on SYFY. Photo Credit: Aleksandar Letic/Ark TV Holdings, Inc./SYFY © 2025 VERSANT MEDIA. All Rights Reserved.

We’re going to have a new main baddie this season. How do they compare to Evelyn Maddox? 

We have a few baddies. I think there is definitely a touch of the ultra big baddie, very suave, and this group of people, which has been teased in other seasons. The sort of William Trust’s of the world or of Earth who are inventing new technologies. They’ve discovered new technologies, and I think within that we’re going to learn more about Garnet’s origin story. That’s always been a thing for me and Jonathan Glassner when we get to set and back to Serbia  to shoot the new season. What do we want to learn about Garnet? For me, it’s her origin story. We really don’t know much about Garnet. In Season 3, I feel we learn a lot. Me, Christie, I feel like I learned a lot about myself. That’s all I can say. I feel like when the season is done, people will be like, “We get it.” There are new technologies, new origins, and the baddies are better than ever. The villains are incredibly complicated and very suave. I remember working with them and you kind of like them in a way. Like I’m being charmed by these people. They are very disarming. 

What did you learn about yourself playing Garnet? What do you make of her journey from being thrown into this leadership position to then owning it and growing in confidence in her abilities? 

I feel like me and Garnet are on similar paths each season. Season 1 I had never been a lead of a series. Garnet had never led a ship. So there was this sort of figuring it out as I went. Especially, because when I originally booked The Ark, I found out in 48 hours and then within then I was filming a TV show. Usually, people have months to prepare. For me, it was I found out and within 24 hours I was on a plane. Then within another 24 hours I was filming. I very much felt like Garnet in Season 1 in terms of a whirlwind and everything happening. Then in Season 2 there was a sense that this was family and developed an understanding and had my footing. There are challenges in every episode. I felt that within myself being on this show and beginning to know the character. And also coming up against stuff in my life and shooting the show. 

In Season 3, Garnet goes through a loss of identity, and I really felt that within myself, but it did feel like I was coming back home. It felt like I was coming back home to a show, and where we were going to do Garnet justice by delving into who she is, not only in her relationships, but as a clone, as a leader, as a friend, as a person. I felt myself, as Christie, I felt I was having my own sort of who I am, and what I want in this world. I think for the first time you’re seeing Ark One crew members really no longer having to survive. All of them are asking that question. We made it to a new Earth. I never thought that was possible. Who do I want to be now? We thought we’d be in space forever. I think when people make it to the destination they’ve been fighting so hard to get to, which always felt like a pipedream, it then becomes where you go, who am I? What kind of leader do I want to be? I was asking those same questions to myself as well. 

It’s almost like there are two shows going on at the same time. How would you describe your crew dynamic? 

I think the atmosphere was incredible. You get to have people have their own storylines, and I think as an audience member, we yearn for that. We yearn to see Felix Strickland take the lead. We learn to see Angus’ [Medford] storyline go in a bizarre, crazy direction. We give more incredible characters the opportunity to have their own storylines. There are all these storylines happening, and as an audience member, you yearn for that. Also, we get off the gray space ship and go see trees. It’s just a breath of fresh air. You also get closer to the characters. I find the crew at Ark One, especially after episode 1, will never be the same. And because of that they grow so incredibly close to one another. Then when they go home, and it’s like for the first time in their lives they have a home and it’s not a grey space ship that is constantly trying to kill them. 

What can you tease about Home Base 1 in terms of that story?

I think what has always been interesting about Captain Garnet has been that she doesn’t really want to be the captain. She doesn’t really want to be the leader. So the idea that they could go to a Home Base, and she not have to be the leader of the Home Base 1. I think she relishes that. Like, yes, I can finally do normal people stuff. I think what is great about the Home Base storyline is we do get to be a normal person. There is also as we’ve come to know with The Ark, twists and turns, new discoveries, new potential lifeforms. I know at the end of Season 2 there was sort of alien artifact discovery from Angus, and what is that? Will this planet too be okay for them? I don’t know. People are going to have to tune in to see that. 

“I Have Nightmares” Episode 307. Pictured: Christie Burke as Sharon Garnet in THE ARK on SYFY. Photo Credit: Aleksandar Letic/Ark TV Holdings, Inc./SYFY © 2025 VERSANT MEDIA. All Rights Reserved.

All these relationships and couples developed in past seasons. Now they are broken apart, having more of a long-distance connection. Does your character find some romance?

Oh yeah, I think everyone finds a little bit of romance and not romance. I think at the core, The Ark will be a story about people and characters and relationships. Although it’s set behind a sci-fi background, which is stunning, I genuinely think what makes The Ark work is the characters on the show and how they interact with one another. I do think there is room for Garnet to find love. Who will it be? What will it be? Potentially, an alien. Who knows? Just because you think something is one way doesn’t mean it is. 

Where we are in the world and the timing of it, you don’t see these shows anymore in the age of Battlestar Galactica and others like it. The fact this one carries on is pretty meaningful. 

Yeah, it is meaningful. I don’t want to cry, but it’s extremely meaningful that this little space show that I always found to be quite niche, which I love. We have the most incredible fans and crew and writers that get to do whatever they want and take things wherever they want. There is a lack of pressure in a way because there is a heartwarming story, so within that I know we are going to be okay. The audiences are going to be okay. It’s an easy watch. We’re not asking too much of people. It is meaningful. I think it’s a great way to put it, especially nowadays. For me, all I’ve been doing was watching the World Cup. Life can be heavy. We need an escape. For me, an escape is to be entertained and know at the end of the episode I’m going to be okay. It’s going to be a laugh or be sad, whatever it might be. 

I mean I don’t know. The show isn’t above killing off characters as we’ve seen. 

And get ready because I think people are going to be surprised who dies this season. Or how many die this season. I think within that there is still comfort. Yes, there is death because I think Jonathan and Dean do that in such a beautiful way you’re going to be okay. That they do make it home. What a wonderful thesis statement. 

There are many themes here touching on chosen family, technology, science and the impact at that. Do we want to know? Do we not? 

Yeah, I think this season as well the AI conversation comes into play. What is that? What does that mean? What is art? That is a big conversation that comes up this season. 

It’s always a challenge when there is a gap within seasons. Do you think that has helped the show in a way to give viewers time to find the show?

I think it’s a double-edge sword. On one hand it’s great because you hope there are so many more viewers, and people have been able to sit down and find it on their own. I think that the way to find a show is to find it on your own. On the other hand, you’re sending a distress signal like you’re on the Ark One like, “Is there anyone out there?  We hope you like Season 3. We’re still here guys!” I hope that people tune in and are excited and still warning to watch the show. At times, it can also feel like you’re sending a distress signal from space and hoping what you’re getting back isn’t a warning signal like at the end of Season 2. I will say with this space it did give every actor perspective and time to think about what we really wanted to tell. I think that is why this season is so good because the writers had time to think, “What do we want to talk about? Where do we really want to take these characters?” There are so many twists and turns this season that nobody is going to see coming. It’s just better sets, bigger, better, more planets. We don’t just go to one planet. We go to multiple planets. It gave us time to really explore imagination and storytelling in this genre. 

How do you think people will feel at the end of this season? 

Dean texted me the other day saying, “I’m uncontrollably crying, this is beautiful and sad and heartfelt.” We do lose people along the way. I think in any journey you do in a fight for humanity. You lose some goodies and you lose some baddies. I hope audiences feel like it was worth the wait. 

The Ark Season 3 premiere, July 29, 10/9c, Syfy