1 of 5 | Jason Clarke and Haley Bennett can now be seen in the thriller series, “The Last Frontier.” Photo courtesy of Apple TV+
NEW YORK, Oct. 12 (UPI) — Brotherhood, Zero Dark Thirty and Oppenheimer actor Jason Clarke says he was drawn to the sense of adventure at the heart of his new Alaska-set, Apple TV+ series, The Last Frontier.
“There was always something going on,” Clarke, 56, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.
“There were no weak little scenes in between,” the Australian actor said, noting how the first episode alone includes a moose in the road, an aviation disaster, a brawl and a fatal stabbing.
“I liked that. It was non-stop,” he added. “I felt like every day was going to be a challenge on this. Every day was going to be exciting and there was a big action component to it, which I thought, ‘I love to watch those sequences, and I love to do them.'”
The series casts Clarke as Frank, a U.S. Marshal whose quiet life is upended when a plane filled with dangerous criminals crashes into snowy mountains under his jurisdiction.
Haley Bennett plays Sidney, a CIA agent sent to specifically locate one of the escapees, while Simone Kessell plays Sarah, a nurse and Frank’s wife. The cast also includes Dominic Cooper, Alfre Woodard and Dallas Goldtooth.
“He’s edging closer to retirement, putting his feet up. It’s time,” Clarke said about Frank.
“Frank’s come home from the streets of Chicago in the big city and dealing with that to [returning to] where he grew up with his wife from there and they’re coming home to nestle in the community and build their life and reconnect,” he added. “He’s been, literally, wounded in his career and now it’s time to maybe put it aside and spend some time being a father and husband.”
Clarke said he was happy to have “two great women” — Bennett and Kessell — portraying “two great characters” alongside him in the series.
“We’ll start with Haley. I love that character. I love the way she played it. I love the fact that it was a female part. There’s a mystery to her. There’s a sensitivity and an aggression and a guardedness and an offense going on,” he explained.
“She blends all those and crosses those over really well,” Clarke added. “Frank and her really have to earn their relationship and paddle into it, and then, before they know it, they’re committed out there in the ocean and they’ve only got each other to hang on to.”
That doesn’t mean Frank trusts Sidney entirely.
“She’s got a lot more going on than I do, in terms of her skill set, in her psychological manipulation,” Clarke said.
“Haley portrayed all that really well, that cat-and-mouse between them, and those secrets and lies that we all have in different stages of our lives.”
Clarke has known New Zealander Kessell nearly 30 years and was eager to reunite with her on this project.
“We’re great old friends and her husband is one of my best friends and I was so happy when I saw her,” he said.
“You can feel like we’re a couple of pairs of old jeans, but still working out those stages in life you go through, still earning each other’s love, still earning each other’s time and trying to help each other change and grow, as we go through the empty nest part of our life,” he added. “She embodied all of that incredibly well. She’s a very fierce woman who’s loving and generous.”
The first two episodes of the show are now streaming on Apple TV+