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What's next after that coup? 'The Ark' writer dives into Trust's treachery in latest SYFY episode
We're starting to think the writers were playing mind games with us by naming this dude "Trust."
Despite his surname, William Trust (Paul Murray) proved that he could not actually be trusted in this week's episode of SYFY's The Ark, which saw the technological visionary staging a coup to unseat the current leadership of the Ark One.
"I think this is what we were building towards with Trust," Episode 9 writer John-Paul Nickel remarked on the latest installment of SYFY's official after-show. "This is the promise of a character like that; this genius guy with this huge ego. We layered in the breadcrumbs in earlier episodes and then find out he's actually on the ship."
He continued: "This guy who was the controversial savior of humanity, who, by the way, if he'd done a couple other things better — we talk about the de-carbonization and I think the Klampkin's comes up in this episode — if he'd been successful, all our characters would've been talking about Trust in a different way with much more reverence. When he did the de-carbonization, he was trying to save the world [but] he just screwed up, it just didn't work. It wasn't like he wasn't trying to do a noble thing and that's why I love this character. Because he's trying to do a good thing, but he's not the greatest guy. He can't get past his ego."
Watch SYFY's The Ark Episode 9 after-show below:
Nickel also revealed that the writers' room "went through a lot of iterations" about who which members of the ship would side with Trust in his attempt to seize power. "We always knew Lane [Reece Ritchie] would because that's also the promise of the arc of Sharon [Christie Burke] and Lane. Who's in control? Who should be in charge? The different leadership styles. And then getting them to a point where it feels like they've resolved. Trust is the match on the gasoline."
Co-creators Jonathan Glassner (Stargate SG-1) and Dean Devlin (Stargate, Independence Day) serve as executive producers on the show with Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan-Wilson. Jonathan English and Steve Lee are producers.
The Ark airs on SYFY every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET. New episodes are available to stream on Peacock the day after they premiere.
Looking for even more sci-fi content? Check out shows like Resident Alien, Space: 1999, Brave New World, Project Blue Book, Eureka, Heroes, Intergalactic, Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, and more streaming now on Peacock.
