Behind the Music - ARK: The Animated Series

Music plays a massive role in creating the epic setting of Ark: The Animated Series. Composer Gareth Coker describes the process and inspiration for creating the show’s powerful soundtrack.

Music plays a massive role in creating the epic setting of Ark: The Animated Series. LA-based British composer and two-time Ivor Novello Award-winner Gareth Coker (Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Halo Infinite) describes the process and inspiration for creating the show’s powerful soundtrack.

The soaring orchestral score - recorded by an orchestra of up to eighty of London’s finest session musicians at Abbey Road Studio One - augments the action and drama to the star-packed animated series. An animated adaptation of the hit video game ARK: Survival Evolved and featuring a voice cast that includes Michelle Yeoh, Russell Crowe, Gerard Butler, David Tennant, Jeffrey Wright, Elliot Page and Vin Diesel, ARK: THE ANIMATED SERIES is streaming now on Paramount+ in the US and Canada (and in international markets beginning April 19).

Notes Coker: “ARK The Animated Series has been a labour of love ever since the idea was first introduced to me by the game’s creators, Jeremy Steiglitz and Jesse Rapczak. I’ve immensely enjoyed building ARK’s musical landscape across the game and its several expansions, the chance to add further to it through a different lens was an unbelievable opportunity, and a privilege to be the composer bringing their transmedia vision to life, from scoring both the show and the game. The most striking feature of the show is that it is character driven. This allowed me a huge canvas for thematic development, which was encouraged further by the direction of wanting the show to have a score that wears its heart on its sleeve. ARK has never been shy with its music, and the Animated Series is no different. The show has themes and melodies abound, with the power that our fanbase has come to expect, but within this show, also a more intimate side they have rarely heard before.”