The Passage is a TV show that tries to be two things at once: a government conspiracy thriller and a post-apocalyptic vampire horror story. It never quite settles on either. The result is a first season that is often compelling but rarely cohesive, a show that wastes its best ideas on a cast that never gets enough room to breathe.
Based on Justin Cronin’s trilogy of novels, the series follows Amy Bellafonte, a young girl chosen for a government experiment, and Brad Wolgast, the federal agent tasked with bringing her to Project Noah. The setup is promising: a secret medical facility, a dangerous virus with the potential to cure disease or wipe out humanity, and a girl who may be the key to stopping an apocalypse. The execution, unfortunately, is a long way from the novel’s weight.
Trailer, via The Passage.
Project Noah and the Experiment
The show opens with a clear premise. Project Noah is a top-secret research facility where scientists are experimenting with a virus that could cure all disease — or destroy the human race. When Amy is chosen as a test subject, Brad is assigned to bring her to the site. The problem is that the show spends too much time explaining the virus and not enough time letting the characters breathe.
Brad and Amy’s relationship is the show’s emotional engine. Brad becomes her surrogate father, trying to protect her at any cost. It is a simple idea, but the show struggles to build genuine stakes around it. The tension between Brad and the facility’s lead scientist, Major Nichole Sykes, and the hardened ex-CIA operative Clark Richards, who trained Brad, is more procedural than personal.
The Cast That Never Gets Space
Mark-Paul Gosselaar plays Brad Wolgast with a steady, reliable presence. Saniyya Sidney as Amy Bellafonte is the show’s emotional core, and she carries scenes with a quiet intensity that the show does not always reward. The supporting cast is full of wasted talent. Caroline Chikezie as Major Nickole Sykes, Jamie McShane as Tim Fanning, and Brianne Howey as Shauna Babcock all bring energy to their roles, but the show’s episodic structure keeps them from developing into anything more than cogs in the plot machine.
The show’s casting history is complicated. Genesis Rodriguez, B. J. Britt, and Jennifer Ferrin were announced for the pilot, but three new characters — Tim Fanning, Nichole Sykes, and Lila Kyle — were added later. Jamie McShane and Caroline Chikezie were cast as Fanning and Sykes on February 14, 2018, with Emmanuelle Chriqui cast as Kyle the next day. The changes suggest a show finding its footing, but the final product never quite matches the promise of that process.
The Timeline of the Season
| Episode | Title | Air Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pilot | January 14, 2019 |
| 10 | Finale | March 11, 2019 |
The show premiered on January 14, 2019, and its finale aired on March 11, 2019. The series was cancelled after one season on May 10, 2019. The cancellation is a shame, but it is also a relief. The show was trying to do too much with too little, and a second season would have had to choose a direction it never found.
What Works and What Doesn’t
The show’s best episodes are the ones that focus on Brad and Amy’s personal stakes. When the show lets their relationship take center stage, the drama feels real. The series also does a strong job of building a sense of dread around Project Noah, with its shadowy corridors and the unknown creatures held inside.
The show’s weakest episodes are the ones that lean on the vampire mythology. The creatures are introduced as a danger, but the show never invests in the science or the moral weight of what Project Noah is doing. The result is a show that promises a horror story but delivers a thriller with a horror veneer.
The Verdict on The Passage
The Passage is a show with a good premise and a weak execution. It is a show that wastes its best ideas on a cast it never gives enough room to develop. It is a show that promises a horror story but delivers a thriller with a horror veneer.
The show’s best moments are the quiet ones, the scenes between Brad and Amy, the moments of dread in the shadowy corridors of Project Noah. Those moments are rare. The show is most effective when it trusts its premise and lets the characters breathe. When it tries to be everything at once, it becomes nothing.
Ultimately, however, Wolgast becomes her surrogate father, as he tries to protect her at any cost.
That line, from the show’s own synopsis, captures the show’s central failure. Brad tries to protect Amy at any cost, but the show never gives him a cost to pay. The stakes are there on paper, but the show never commits to them. The result is a show that is often compelling but rarely convincing.
The show’s cancellation is a relief because it stopped the story before it could become a train wreck. The first season is a curio, a show that had a good idea and a promising premise but never found its footing. It is a show worth watching for its occasional flashes of quality, but it is not a show worth defending.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
