With Hollywood being Hollywood the stars answered these questions with great humility and no true answer . The reason for this I will get into later , Which I learned when I had a one-on-one interview with the stars . The only real question that was answered was from Hank Steinberg who said that the series will still continue to evolve with a focus on a new beginning for the Earth and the crew of the USS Nathan James and the individuals they meet along the way . For season 3 he hopes to expand the character ' s stories more and possibly add some additional regular characters such as pilots for the helicopter that is assigned to the destroyer . Mr . Steinberg was quite honest when he said that they hadn ’ t expanded the cast to include pilots because frankly they don ’ t have a helicopter that they can regularly use . That might change in the future . But he was afraid that if they created a cockpit and helicopter on the sound stage with the assistance of CG it might not look real to the viewers . He wants to keep the show as real as possible .
Hank Steinberg said he hoped that the show would be around for 12 seasons , and as for all shows , it is pushed by ratings . He had asked that all fans of the show go to IMDB . com and click on “ The Last Ship ”, the characters , episodes , etc . Everytime one is clicked on the studio officials will know and they do listen to the data collected from that site .
As for Dr . Stone and Tex hooking up , Rhona said maybe ? For the XO Slattery to find his family , Adam said maybe and a wedding for Kara and Danny , maybe a ships wedding , they will have to see . One question that was asked of Eric Dane was what military training was he or the other cast members put through . He said about 15 minutes that it took to put on the uniform . They relied heavily on the US Navy advisers on the set .
But the bulk of the questions came from obviously military personnel , former and present . They all had great praise for the reality of the show and the attention shown to military uniforms , procedures , and protocols .
However , the one who had spoken the most to the fans was Adam Baldwin . He started off by asking for all the veterans and current military to raise their hands . He then stood up and clapped and asked everyone to clap . It was very humbling to listen to him and the praise he put towards the military and to the accuracy of the show to portray that .
With that the panel ended after about an hour and half . Those of us with the media when over to the Hilton Bayside , which was adjacent to the convention center for our press round-table and one-on-one ’ s with the actors .
I was very fortunate to be able to walk part of the way to the Hilton with Adam Baldwin and I was able to carry on a chat with him . He grew up about 150 miles from where I did so we basically talked about home during that time .
When I arrived at the Hilton I was greeted by one of the representatives from TNT who was very gracious to myself and all of the media who were there . We had about 5 minutes to get some still shots of the stars prior to the start of our interviews .
I have to say that this was my first press round table and one-on-one experience with celebrities in this setting .
My first interview was with Co-Creator and Executive Producer Hank Steinberg . He spoke about where the show was going and the challenges for the crew of the USS Nathan James and its allies . The rest of the season is going to head more towards the struggles of the crew . Besides challenges from rogue nations there will also be challenges from groups who are naturally immune and who seek world domination , as
The author Tommy Anderson with Adam Baldwin . well as religious fanatic groups . There will also be challenges with the crew and with good people being effected by their emotions or where does anything go if the ultimate
end is good . The overall theme is that Captain Chandler has become , in essence , Noah and the USS Nathan James is the ark . They will be looking at the struggles of reestablishing the United States in all this chaos . But again the overall aim is to stay positive with the military in the story . In fact , the Navy and federal government is so much behind the series that the Secretary of the Navy , Ray Mabus , had a cameo role on the previous episode in which he had sent out a message to any remaining units to work on the cure and distribution . My final question to Mr . Steinberg was based on my own military experience . I told him that with my 23 years in the military I , like so many others , have become fans because of his attention to detail on the show . I then thanked him for the way he represented us . But I did ask him why in the last episode Captain Chandler had sent out the remaining Navy aircraft from Norfolk to spread the vaccine ? From a military aspect I saw that and looked at the logistics of it . To me I said it would seem that as the series moves on will the USS Nathan James pick up additional naval and military units along the path ? Will there be a follow up on these missions that were sent out ? From personal knowledge I know they will need refueling and other assets in doing this . He looked at me and smiled and said part of the future story will be rebuilding and reestablishing the United States Government . Though he hadn ’ t directly answered my question he did leave me with the impression that there is a lot more to come and the USS Nathan James may not be truly the last ship .
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