Inside Apple TV’s The Last Frontier: Haley Bennett and Dominic Cooper on Turmoil, and Transformation
Apple TV’s gripping new thriller The Last Frontier takes viewers deep into the frozen barrens of Alaska, where chaos erupts after a prison transport plane crash unleashes a group of violent inmates. At the center of the storm are U.S. Havlock and CIA agent Sydney, played by Dominic Cooper and Haley Bennett, two characters bound by secrets, survival, and moral ambiguity.
When audiences first meet Sydney, she’s sitting outside her sister’s house, quietly spiking a soda bottle with alcohol before heading into her niece’s birthday party, a simple yet revealing moment that sets the tone for her inner turmoil. For Bennett, that opening scene became one of her favorites in her entire career.
“It’s the best introduction scene of anything that I’ve done,” Bennett said. “What’s really happening in that scene is revealed later on, and it’s intense. Sydney is an incredibly dynamic and flawed character. She’s tortured, emotionally torn, and sent by the CIA to restore order after a crisis.”
Over the course of ten episodes, Sydney evolves from a broken figure into a woman reclaiming her strength and clarity.
“She’s a survivor,” Bennett explained. “The more she grasps the truth, the more confident she becomes. It’s a journey of redemption and rediscovering her sense of self.”
Cooper’s character, Havlock, is one of the series’ most enigmatic figures, part mathematician, part Navy SEAL, part ex-CIA operative. His brilliance and unpredictability make him both magnetic and dangerous.
“He’s spoken about constantly before he even appears, which is such a gift for an actor,” Cooper shared. “When he finally shows up, people already have opinions about him and many are wrong.”
Cooper relished the challenge of portraying a character whose morality is anything but clear.
“He makes questionable decisions, but ultimately, he’s acting from a good place,” Cooper said. “In a world where truth is fragile, The Last Frontier explores what it means to act out of conviction even when it blurs ethical lines.”
Despite the show’s heavy themes, Cooper emphasized that it delivers thrilling entertainment.
“This is an action thriller with some of the best sequences you’ll ever see. It’s exciting and deeply relevant.”
Both actors spoke about the unique rhythm of The Last Frontier, which swings between high-octane action and quiet, emotional intimacy. Cooper described the experience as “epic and intimate at the same time,” recalling how scenes alternated between solitary radio transmissions in the Alaskan wilderness and intense face-to-face encounters.
“It felt like an absolute gift of a show to make,” he said. “One day you’re alone in the snow, the next you’re in Prague filming a deeply human scene about love, loyalty, and survival.”
One of the unexpected hurdles for Bennett was mastering the series’ dense dialogue.
“I come from a simple background in Ohio,” she laughed. “We say what we mean in plain terms. But Sydney’s world is all CIA language and precision. It was difficult, but I leaned into that frustration because it fit her character perfectly.”
Cooper praised her performance, admitting that despite her protests, she made the dialogue sound effortless.
“She was brilliant at it,” he said. “She made something incredibly difficult look easy.”
Beyond the action and suspense, both actors see The Last Frontier as a reflection of today’s world.
“It raises important questions about the choices people make when the world is falling apart,” Cooper said.
Bennett added, “it’s also about doing things that scare you and challenge you because that’s where real growth happens.”
