Jon Bokenkamp on Building The Last Frontier: From The Blacklist to the Alaskan Wild

Jon Bokenkamp knows a thing or two about crafting stories that keep you guessing. 

After all, he created The Blacklist, a series built on secrets, double lives, and moral gray zones.

So when I told him that The Last Frontier felt like The Blacklist crashed into Die Hard, he laughed — and admitted that wasn’t too far off.

“I’m from a small town — smaller than Fairbanks — and I don’t see it represented very often,” Bokenkamp said. 

“Dramatically, it helps bring out the contrast between a guy living his quiet life and a plane full of criminals let loose on his town. That stark juxtaposition is just interesting space.”

It’s a concept that instantly hooks you — an ordinary man thrown into extraordinary circumstances — and one that lets Bokenkamp explore his favorite territory: human identity.

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Trust, Deception, and the Divide Between Worlds

“You love morally tangled partnerships,” I said, noting that The Last Frontier centers on Frank (Jason Clarke) and Sidney (Haley Bennett), two people forced to work together despite having every reason not to trust one another.

Bokenkamp nodded. “It’s an area I’m fascinated by,” he said. “I think identity might even be under that — who are these people, really? We all present versions of ourselves, and when you peel back the layers, it’s never that simple.”

He smiled when I brought up the urban-rural divide that quietly simmers beneath the show. “I’ve lived in L.A. half my life and Nebraska half my life,” he said. “I have a unique point of view on that. I don’t think the divide is as deep as people believe. That’s an interesting space to explore.”

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Finding the Right Tone

If The Blacklist was a stylish crime opera, The Last Frontier is a cinematic snowstorm — all adrenaline and emotion. Balancing those tones wasn’t easy. “It’s a question of tone,” Bokenkamp said. “How do you keep it grounded when the concept is big?

“You have to let the actors play it real. That’s where the grounding comes from. You mix the heightened action with real emotion, and then add music that tells you a little about how to feel — sometimes saying, ‘Hey, maybe this isn’t as serious as you think.’”

Music That Moves the Story

Speaking of music, Bokenkamp lit up when I mentioned how powerful the score felt. “We have a fantastic composer, Ariel Marks,” he said. 

“She brought in some indigenous elements that give it an Alaska vibe. And our music supervisor, Kira Elwes, is incredible. Sometimes I’ve got a song in my head I’ve been dying to use, and other times she’ll suggest something I’d never expect — and it’s perfect.”

He laughed. “I’ll be at a swap meet, pull out my Shazam, and think, ‘Let’s write a scene around that.’ That part of the process is always fun.”

A Lone Wolf for Modern Times

At its core, The Last Frontier fits right into Bokenkamp’s storytelling DNA — a lone hero battling chaos, corruption, and his own moral compass.

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“It’s probably more relevant now than ever,” he said. 

“Whatever’s happening in the world politically or geopolitically, it all comes back to: who are you? What do you stand for? Frank’s moral compass keeps spinning, and he’s just trying to find north again. I think that’s why we keep coming back to characters like that — we see ourselves in them.”

Don’t miss our review of The Last Frontier series premiere, and be sure to keep an eye out for more interviews!

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