Summary
- Jon Bokenkamp discusses the ’90s films that influenced The Last Frontier.
- The showrunner reveals the most difficult plot twists to pull off and the best advice he got from Extraction director Sam Hargrave.
- Bokenkamp weighs in on whether more The Blacklist is in his future.
Jon Bokenkamp is an absolute master at crafting thrilling crime dramas, creating the massively successful NBC series The Blacklist, which ran for 10 seasons and won an Emmy for its impressive stunt coordination, as well as its spin-off, The Blacklist: Redemption. The show starred James Spader as Raymond Reddington, one of the FBI’s most wanted, who cooperates with the agency to track down other fugitives. It’s certainly easy to see hints of the beloved series in Bokenkamp’s new Apple TV show, The Last Frontier.
The show centers around Frank Remnick (Jason Clarke), the Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal for the District of Alaska, who must team up with CIA agent Sidney Scofield (Haley Bennett) to track down a rogue asset nicknamed Havlock (Dominic Cooper) after a plane transporting dangerous inmates crashes in Fairbanks. Trust between the three is constantly earned and broken as secrets come out that complicate matters. Is Havlock really the enemy that the CIA claims? Or is he an antihero trying to protect the world?
Collider got the chance to speak to Bokenkamp about the series. During the conversation, he discusses the films that inspired the series, pulling off its complex plot twists, how Extraction director Sam Hargrave helped give the show its authenticity, whether more The Blacklist is in his future, and more.
‘The Last Frontier’s Showrunner Breaks Down the Show’s ‘90s Influences and Setting
“Planeload of inmates, middle of nowhere, cowboy goes to hunt them down — what could go wrong?”
First of all, congratulations on the show. I was so riveted from beginning to end, and I can’t wait for everyone else to get to see it. I read the production notes and learned that you were really influenced by a lot of ‘90s movies for this show. What are some of your favorites that were on the mood board for this?
JON BOKENKAMP: I’m an old guy, so it goes back to the ‘70s — the conspiracy stuff like All the President’s Men and Alan Pakula and those conspiracy thrillers. Con Air is an obvious comp for this, I suppose. The Fugitive is as well. I think the show is a little bit of a mystery. Presumed Innocent, I love — it’s a whodunit in a way. There are so many of these movies, but to me, it’s those late ‘90s movies that were sort of like, “Here’s a big concept. Let’s see where this goes.” This is a little bit of that. Planeload of inmates, middle of nowhere, cowboy goes to hunt them down — what could go wrong?
I also read that the show was originally set in New York. What encouraged you to move to Alaska, and what is the biggest thing that changed with that switch?
BOKENKAMP: A couple of things. It was originally set in New York just as a concept, like, “Oh, wow. Crazy. It’s an island — you’d shut down the bridges and tunnels. What would you do to find these people?” But the more we thought about it…I’m from a small town in Nebraska. I probably understand rural life better than I do one that’s more urban in a metropolis, and in drilling down on that, it started to influence who our hero was — who Frank was — having him be somebody who lives in a place that’s a little bit of what maybe America used to be. It’s a little old-fashioned. His values are probably a little old-fashioned, and he’s somebody who is so community-minded. He’s taken a vow to protect this community, so when this catastrophe happens in his backyard, it really draws out who he is.
In a place like Alaska, I’ve come to learn, you may break down 30 miles from anywhere, and you may not have a cell signal, and you have to depend on your community. Whether you like them or not, you’re sort of forced to wrap your arms around that, and that’s very much who Frank is. So to juxtapose him in this sort of old-fashioned mindset with a brand-new set of problems and put them right up against each other just felt like a more interesting entry point and drama for the series.
‘The Last Frontier’s Showrunner Discusses How the Directors and Writers’ Room Shaped the Show
“It’s on the page — you see what we’re going for — go make it better.”
I feel like there are an endless number of stories you could explore in this world you’ve built. When you pitched the show, how many seasons did you have mapped out?
BOKENKAMP: You know, I learned on The Blacklist that you can’t really put an end date on it. I thought we would have stopped earlier, but as long as there are stories to tell and they feel interesting and authentic, I think that world can expand. This one feels like a full season. I hope people feel like when they watch, not only the episodes but the season in itself, that it feels like, “Okay, that was a meal,” whether there’s a hanging chad that might kick us into something else or not. You know, the hand comes up from the grave at the end of the horror film — do we need the other horror film or not? We’ll see, but I’m very excited about our first season.
I do think it is very satisfying, but you want more, which is a very good combination.
BOKENKAMP: Okay, good. That’s good to hear.
The stunts are also so incredible in the show, and I know you worked really closely with Sam and Daniel Hargrave as directors and also stunt coordinators. How did they come on board, and how did their involvement sort of shape and influence the show?
BOKENKAMP: Sam, when he came on board, I first asked him about Extraction, because I had just watched it, and it was very sweaty and humid, and it had a real sense of place. I said to him, “How do you get that? What’s the secret sauce?” And he goes, “There’s no secret sauce. You go to a place that’s hot and sweaty, and so for this, we’re going to go to a place where you’re going to feel the cold.” He’s a stunt guy, and he doesn’t want a bunch of VFX. He wants it to be practical, and he wants to really wrap his arms around it in a visceral way. That, I think, informed the storytelling and the way we told the story. And then you team him with his brother and those guys designing these stunts — whether it’s the oner or opening plane sequence or any of these things — and it’s such a ballet. The choreography of camera people, and stunt performers, and actors, that’s where I just step back and go, “Go do your thing. It’s on the page — you see what we’re going for — go make it better.”
I was blown away by all of the stunts and action scenes that were happening, but the writing is also so sharp, and your writer’s room seems to have been very diverse. You had Akela Cooper, for example, who’s huge in the horror space. What was the dynamic in that writer’s room like, and how is it different from past shows that you’ve worked on?
BOKENKAMP: The room is always messy. How the sausage is made is always sort of like, “Oh, why is this so hard?” We’re trying to pack so much into the episodes. The storytelling, I hope, is sort of “hyper-aggressive,” as Albert Kim, one of our writers, had said. The thing, for me, is to sort of have a point of view — a tone almost — that I’m aiming for, and to wrap my arms around good ideas to be surprised. The sort of gold standard to me is, “Does it surprise you? Does it kind of make you laugh? Does it kind of feel like, ‘Wow, do we really wanna do that?’” Then you gotta go, “Okay, let’s ground that now, and let’s make that as real as we can and see where it takes us.”
‘The Last Frontier’s Showrunner Reveals the Most Difficult Plot Twists to Pull Off
“Let’s live with the fallout of that.”
There are so many shocking plot twists every episode that I think are pulled off really well. What was your favorite plot twist, and then what was the most difficult to sort of crack or pull off?
BOKENKAMP: The twist of Sidney, which ultimately happens at the end of Episode 7, I kind of thought might be the end of the season. And then we realized, “Why are we gonna have that be a hook? Let’s live with this. Let’s live with the fallout of that.” That was difficult to write toward. And then, truthfully, upfront, the Havlock we present in the first episode. Sam Hargrave has this cameo where he’s, we ended up calling him “Fakelock.’ We’re like, “What do we even call this guy? We’re supposed to think he’s Havlock, but he’s not.” Trying to hide the turn in the first episode was another tricky one to navigate.
I love both of those so much. And the fact that they’re married — that was the other one that really had my jaw dropping.
BOKENKAMP: Why not, right? That’s the kind of thing where you go. “Wait, are they…what does that mean?” And then, “What does that inform about the story?” That just becomes so much more personal and interesting than the spy and the handler. To mix it up a little bit and involve them just felt like the right thing to do.
I love how you have this overarching story going with Sidney and Havlock, but there’s also almost a procedural-type element with the different inmates every week. What was it like balancing that bigger thread with the week-to-week stories? And was there an ‘inmate of the week’ that was your favorite to explore?
BOKENKAMP: I love that you caught that — the sense that there is a little bit of a procedural aspect to it. It’s not a procedural, but we do sort of spotlight an inmate each week as we try to bring these people in. In terms of my favorites, I love Kitty and Viv. I love Johnny Knoxville. I can’t believe I got to work with him. Damien Young — we had him on The Blacklist — he plays Doctor Wigg in Episode 6, and what he does as an actor really zones in on the sweet spot of what I really like to do. He’s doing something very dangerous. He’s a lunatic, but he’s having fun with it, and you kind of want to like him. You kind of want to go, “I don’t want this guy to be my doctor, but I’d like to hear him tell a campfire story.” So that was a fun one. It’s like picking your favorite kid. They’re all special in their own weird way.
Is More ‘The Blacklist’ in Jon Bokenkamp’s Future?
“I’m always open.”
You worked for many years on The Blacklist and its spin-off. What is the biggest thing you feel like you learned on those shows that you took to this one?
BOKENKAMP: Technically, I think The Blacklist and what we did there, there is a little bit of that DNA in this show in terms of a procedural, while also carrying on a longer sort of mystery. The Blacklist is the first episode of TV I ever wrote, and I have no other experience beyond that, so what I learned from that was just working with really talented people, listening, and trying to embrace the other ideas. It’s very easy to get locked in on, “Oh, I think I figured this out — this will be a great turn,” or “This will be a great character moment,” but then somebody else comes up and tries to top it, and you have to embrace that and see where it takes you.
I do have to ask, because so many of our readers love The Blacklist so much, would you ever do a prequel movie? Prequel series? Will we maybe see that world again?
BOKENKAMP: Oh my god, that would be crazy. What would that be? Prequel? That would be pretty interesting, huh? The origin story.
They did it with Dexter, and that seems to be working out for them.
BOKENKAMP: Who knows? I would never say never. I love that character. I was at the swap meet with my son a couple of weeks ago, and we saw this big family. They were having a picnic, and something just felt weird about it. I’m like, “Reddington would be sitting on that bench, and he would come up and meet these people, and he would want to have the barbecue.” It doesn’t leave you. I’m sure that show hasn’t left any of the people who really were invested and worked on it. It would be fun, but there’s nothing in the works to do at the moment, no.
So fair. As long as you’re open to it, I think that’ll make them happy.
BOKENKAMP: I’m open. I’m always open.
You guys on this show do such an amazing job of building suspense without ever making the violence feel gratuitous, which I feel like is a really hard line to walk. For you, what is the key to building tension without relying on graphic gore and torture? I was really relieved I didn’t really have to watch a lot of that.
BOKENKAMP: Good. I’m glad you feel that way. In terms of things that I learned from The Blacklist, I thought that was a cable show when I was writing it, and it became a network show, and I think the constraints of what network TV would allow us to do and show were very helpful. Sometimes, compromise can be your best friend, and I think I took that philosophy to this. We don’t need to see all the crazy gore. Sometimes, not seeing it is even weirder and more uncomfortable. I like to try to leave a little bit of it to the imagination. Where we leaned into it was more in the action and the visceral, muscular nature of some of the action sequences. But yeah, I hope it doesn’t make anyone too uncomfortable. There’s some uncomfortable stuff, but there’s got to be, right? That’s what makes it fun.
I don’t feel like it went too far, which is refreshing, because I feel like sometimes it’s like, “Okay, we don’t need all of that.”
BOKENKAMP: The world is weird enough. We don’t need to see all that.
‘The Last Frontier’s Showrunner Shares the Most Surprising Challenge They Faced During Production
“This is gonna look like a 4th of July barbecue instead of the dead of winter.”
I read that you talked to Dallas Goldtooth, who plays Hutch, about making the Indigenous point of view feel authentic, which I also found really refreshing. What was the most important thing he taught you about that perspective?
BOKENKAMP: Dallas is just a very cool dude. He’s an easy-to-talk-to kind of guy. I told him upfront that we did cast a number of Indigenous people in our roles, and it was important that we weren’t screwing it up. I told him, “Dallas, this isn’t me. I don’t know this. I’m trying the best I can, but if we’re off the mark, or something feels fake, or something feels wrong, you gotta tell me.” And he pulled me aside a couple of times and said, “Hey, maybe we could adjust this.” We also worked with a great guy, Sam Alexander, out of Fairbanks, and he’s a professor there. I had some line where Frank was being sort of pious and sort of, “Here’s what we must do — I have this moral code,” and Sam said, “Yeah, that sounds like some white people shit to me.” I was like, “I’m taking that line, Sam. I love that.” So just really trying to embrace it and be thoughtful was the goal, and yeah, Dallas was fantastic at that.
I love all of the behind-the-scenes stuff, so the production notes for this were so rich. I know that Sam brought in a stunt performer, Nathaniel Perry, as a camera operator, which I found so interesting. Are there more little behind-the-scenes tidbits that people might be interested in knowing about making the sausage of this show?
BOKENKAMP: Making the sausage is always messy, right? It was crazy with Nate. He’s on wires, they got camera guys hanging on wires filming people hanging from this bus, and the choreography of those dances was insane. One thing that was weird to me was that we had a location we called Bug Mountain, which was in the sixth episode, and by the time we finished filming, it was August, and the snow was gone. So we were out there with all these headlights on this airstrip, this runway. They’re trying to land the plane, and the sun’s coming up, and we’re trying to bring in this drone, which was supposed to represent the plane. There were so many bugs everywhere and on the headlights of these cars, and we were like, “Oh my God — this is gonna look like a 4th of July barbecue instead of the dead of winter.” That’s where we used a little VFX to help us get over the hump of summer. But yeah, it was a difficult shoot. It was very cold and difficult in ways, but at the end of the day, it was a big, dysfunctional family that was fantastic.
