The first season of the American political drama series Designated Survivor began airing on September 21, 2016 on ABC. The series was ordered straight to series by ABC in December 2015, with a formal announcement of 13 episodes in May 2016. Eight days after the premiere, on September 29, 2016, ABC gave the series a full season order. The series is produced by ABC Studios and The Mark Gordon Company, and is filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The series was renewed for a second season on May 11, 2017.
Premise
On the night of the State of the Union, an explosion claims the lives of the President and everyone in the line of succession except for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Thomas Kirkman, who had been named the designated survivor. Kirkman is immediately sworn in as president, unaware that the attack is just the beginning of what is to come.
Cast and characters
Main
Kiefer Sutherland as President Thomas "Tom" Kirkman
Natascha McElhone as First Lady Alexandra "Alex" Kirkman
Adan Canto as White House Chief of Staff Aaron Shore
Italia Ricci as Special Advisor Emily Rhodes
LaMonica Garrett as Secret Service Agent Mike Ritter
Tanner Buchanan as Leo Kirkman (episodes 1–13; recurring episodes 14–21) Kal Penn as White House Press Secretary Seth Wright Maggie Q as FBI Agent Hannah Wells
Recurring
Episodes
Production
Development
Designated Survivor was ordered straight to series by ABC in December 2015, with a formal announcement of 13 episodes in May 2016. A month later, ABC revealed that the series would premiere on September 21, 2016. Eight days after the premiere, on September 29, 2016, ABC gave the series a full season order.
Created by David Guggenheim, the series is executive produced by Simon Kinberg, Sutherland, Suzan Bymel, Aditya Sood, and Nick Pepper. Paul McGuigan directed the pilot episode. Amy B. Harris was set to be the showrunner in February 2016, but after the series' official pick-up in May, it was announced she would be stepping down due to creative differences, and that Jon Harmon Feldman was in talks to replace her. In July 2016, Feldman was confirmed as showrunner/executive producer. In December 2016, Jeff Melvoin was hired as showrunner, replacing the departing Feldman. Kal Penn, formerly associate director in the White House's Office of Public Engagement, serves as a consultant for the series as well as acting in the main cast.
Writing
Producers Jon Harmon Feldman and Guggenheim described the series as more than one genre, drawing inspiration from other political thriller-dramas, with Guggenheim explaining, "There is a West Wing component of a man governing and his team governing our nation at this critical time. It's also the Homeland aspect of investigating the conspiracy. It also has a House of Cards component, which is the characters and the business of government through the eyes of these characters."
Casting
Kiefer Sutherland joined the cast in December 2015, playing Tom Kirkman, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development who suddenly becomes President. Sutherland had previously no intention of doing television again, but changed his mind after reading the first script of the series, saying, "I remember getting to the end of the script and thinking I was potentially holding the next 10 years of my life in my hands."
In February 2016, it was announced that Kal Penn, Maggie Q, Natascha McElhone, and Italia Ricci had been cast as Seth Wright, Kirkman's speech writer; Hannah, the lead FBI agent on the bombing of the Capitol; Kirkman's wife, an EEOC attorney; and Emily, Kirkman's Chief of Staff, respectively. Shortly after, Adan Canto had joined the series as Aaron Shore, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff. In early March, LaMonica Garrett joined the cast as Mike Ritter, Kirkman's Secret Service agent, and Tanner Buchanan and Mckenna Grace had been cast as Kirkman's children.