Wait, do you remember Last Resort? It was that high-stakes, "we’re going rogue in a nuclear sub" drama that hit ABC back in 2012. It felt massive. Shawn Ryan, the genius who gave us The Shield, was at the helm. It had everything: a $150 million nuclear submarine, a tropical island, and a conspiracy that reached all the way back to D.C. Honestly, the Last Resort TV show cast was stacked with some of the best "hey, I know that guy" actors in the business. But then, it just... vanished. ABC pulled the plug after 13 episodes.
The show centered on the USS Colorado. The crew gets an order to fire nukes at Pakistan, they question the sketchy source of that order, and suddenly their own country is shooting at them. They take over a NATO sensor station on the fictional island of Sainte Marina and declare themselves the world's smallest nuclear power. It was ambitious. Maybe too ambitious for network TV in the early 2010s.
The Heavy Hitters: Andre Braugher and Scott Speedman
You can’t talk about this cast without starting with Captain Marcus Chaplin. Andre Braugher played him. If you only know Braugher as the hilariously deadpan Captain Holt from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, you are missing out on his range. In Last Resort, he was a lion. He had this gravitas that made you believe he could actually stand off against the entire U.S. Navy. He wasn't playing for laughs here; he was playing a man torn between his oath and his morality. Braugher brought a Shakespearean weight to the role of a commander who becomes a "traitor" to save his crew.
Then there was Scott Speedman.
Speedman played XO Sam Kendal. He was the emotional core. While Chaplin was the visionary, Kendal was the guy trying to figure out how to get home to his wife. Speedman has always been good at playing that slightly tortured, deeply loyal second-in-command. Most people recognized him from Felicity or the Underworld movies, but this felt like his shot at being a true prestige TV lead. The chemistry between Braugher’s stoicism and Speedman’s desperation was what kept the show grounded when the plot got a little wild.
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The Island Residents and the D.C. Players
While the sub was the heart of the show, the island of Sainte Marina introduced a whole different vibe. Daisy Betts played Lieutenant Grace Shepard. She was a trailblazer on the sub, dealing with the blatant sexism of the era while trying to prove she earned her spot. She was also the daughter of an Admiral back home, which added layers of "daddy issues" that actually mattered to the plot.
And we have to talk about Robert Patrick.
Basically, if you need a terrifying, grizzled military man, you call Robert Patrick. He played Command Master Chief Joseph Prosser. Prosser was the antagonist within the crew. He hated that Chaplin disobeyed orders. He represented the old-school "follow the chain of command no matter what" mentality. Patrick brought that same intensity he had in Terminator 2, but with more wrinkles and a lot more cynicism.
Over on the civilian side, we had:
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- Autumn Reeser as Kylie Sinclair. She was the Washington insider, a weapons lobbyist trying to figure out the conspiracy from the inside.
- Dichen Lachman as Tani Tumrenjack. She owned the bar on the island. Lachman is a sci-fi legend (Dollhouse, Altered Carbon), and she brought a cool, guarded energy to the local resistance.
- Daniel Lissing as James King. A Navy SEAL who was stuck on the island with a secret.
The cast was truly international and diverse, which was somewhat ahead of its time for a standard network procedural block.
Why the Last Resort TV Show Cast Couldn't Save the Ratings
Television is a brutal business. Last Resort had a massive budget. Filming in Hawaii isn't cheap—just ask the LOST crew. Despite critical acclaim, the show struggled in its Thursday night time slot. It was up against The Big Bang Theory. You just don't win against Chuck Lorre sitcoms in the 8,000,000-viewer-a-night era.
There was also the "complexity problem." This wasn't a show you could half-watch while folding laundry. If you missed five minutes, you missed a coup attempt or a major shift in geopolitical alliances. Audiences in 2012 were still warming up to the idea of serialized, "choose your own adventure" style political thrillers on broadcast networks.
By the time ABC announced they weren't picking up the back nine episodes, the creators had to scramble. They knew the end was coming, so they turned the final episodes into a breakneck sprint to resolve the conspiracy. It was messy, sure, but it gave fans closure. We found out who the "bad guys" in the White House were. We saw the fate of the USS Colorado.
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What the Cast Did Next
It’s actually kind of wild to see where everyone went.
- Andre Braugher: Immediately went to Brooklyn Nine-Nine and became a comedy icon. His passing in late 2023 was a massive blow to the acting community.
- Scott Speedman: He stayed busy, eventually landing a long-running role on Animal Kingdom and showing up in Grey's Anatomy.
- Robert Patrick: He’s been in everything. Peacemaker, 1923, The Night Agent. The man doesn't sleep.
- Dichen Lachman: She’s a staple in prestige TV now, most recently seen in the mind-bending Severance on Apple TV+.
The Legacy of a Short-Lived Gem
Usually, when a show gets canceled after 13 episodes, it’s forgotten. But people still find Last Resort on streaming services and wonder why it didn't last five seasons. It was a "Peak TV" show before the term was even fully a thing. The Last Resort TV show cast took a premise that could have been a cheesy action movie and turned it into a character study about what happens when your moral compass points in a different direction than your flag.
If you’re looking to revisit it, the show remains a masterclass in tension. It didn't rely on CGI explosions as much as it relied on the sweat on Scott Speedman's forehead and the booming resonance of Andre Braugher's voice.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Aspiring Viewers
- Where to Watch: Look for it on digital storefronts like Amazon or Vudu. It occasionally pops up on ad-supported streamers like Tubi or Freevee, but it’s a bit of a nomad.
- Watch the "Last" Episode Closely: Because they knew they were being canceled, the writers crammed about two seasons of plot into the final hour. It's a chaotic but fascinating look at "emergency storytelling."
- Follow the Creators: If you liked the vibe of Last Resort, check out Shawn Ryan’s other work like The Shield or the more recent S.W.A.T., which shares some of that high-octane DNA.
- Check Out the Soundtrack: Robert Duncan’s score for the show was nominated for an Emmy. It’s worth a listen on Spotify if you want that "impending nuclear doom" ambiance for your morning commute.
The show might be over, but the performances from that specific ensemble remain some of the best work seen on network television in the last fifteen years. It was a swing for the fences that didn't quite clear the wall, but man, it was a beautiful hit to watch while it lasted.