Dean Devlin & Jonathan Glassner explain that clone reveal on SYFY’s original series ‘The Ark’

SYFY’s new original series The Ark has been playing with all kinds of sci-fi concepts in its first season, from space exploration to global catastrophe, and now we can add clones into the mix after Episode 4.

So what does that twist mean, and how does cloning fit into the world of The Ark?

**Spoilers ahead for the fourth episode of SYFY’s The Ark**

SYFY WIRE caught up with The Ark creators Dean Devlin and Jonathan Glassner to talk about the reveal that Lt. Sharon Garnet (Christie Burke) is actually a clone, which explains how someone identical to her was caught on camera killing a man in a bar brawl while she was half a world away. Devlin said the storyline was a way to not only dabble in another fun corner of the sci-fi lexicon, but also a way to introduce a unique perspective for Garnet to deal with something that makes her even more of an outsider among the crew.

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“We we wanted to kind of redefine the whole idea of a clone. When we say clones now we think about things like robots, or some some strange alien thing. But with the advances we're seeing in technology like CRISPR, and other things like that, Jonathan and I started talking about it and cloning in the future could be the future equivalent of in vitro,” Devlin said. “But there would probably be a lot of prejudice about it, surrounding it. And so we thought it would be an interesting way to bring that subject matter in and allow us to have this secret for our lead character. That she's dealing with a prejudice as well as having some different genetics than everybody else on board.”

Glassner expanded on that perspective, noting the use of cloning could be something scientists in the future explore as a way to make space travel safer and more viable as humanity starts creeping its way out toward the stars. 

“It's a good way to give them a base genetic line that they want to work with for them to ‘improve’ to make them better for space travel,” he added.

For Garnet, it seems the tweaks to her DNA could hold valuable advantages when it comes to space travel, and it also makes you wonder if her clone sister might be out there, somewhere, on a different Ark mission? If nothing else, they made it a priority to get Garnet on a ship, right?

New episodes of The Ark air Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on SYFY and stream next-day on Peacock.