Following the surprise launch of its new video game adaptation ARK: The Animated Series last week, Paramount+ has shared with Animation Magazine a special look behind the scenes with a focus on the show’s stirring original soundtrack. The first six episodes are now available to watch on the streamer for viewers in the U.S. and Canada.
The BTS featurette introduces and two-time Ivor Novello Award-winner composer Gareth Coker (Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Halo Infinite), who was tapped for the series after creating the music for the video game from Studio Wildcard. Coker guides us through the show’s orchestral soundscape, which the L.A.-based British composer oversaw at the famous Abbey Road recording studio in London.
Featuring the voices of Oscar winners Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once) and Russell Crowe (The Loudest Voice), Gerard Butler (Plane), David Tennant (Doctor Who), Oscar nominees Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction) and Elliot Page (The Umbrella Academy), Madeleine Madden (The Wheel of Time) and Vin Diesel (Fast & Furious franchise), ARK: The Animated Series is a sweeping saga spanning eons of human history.
Synopsis: When 21st century paleontologist Helena Walker (Madden) finds herself resurrected on a mysterious primeval island populated by prehistoric beasts, she must learn to survive with new allies from throughout time, while trying to uncover the true nature of their strange new world.
“‘The Will to Survive’ plays as the final cue of the first episode, and it represents the full gamut of the soundtrack,” notes Coker, “from the most intimate moments, to a rousing finale capped off with a snippet of the ARK franchise’s main theme as Helena begins to understand the journey that awaits her, using fuel from her past to give her the determination she needs to push forward through everything she encounters in the series.”
Lakeshore Records is set to release ARK: The Animated Series, Volume 1 — Original Series Soundtrack digitally on March 29.
