'Last Resort' bosses Shawn Ryan and Karl Gajdusek: 'We have the sexiest cast on TV'

"Last Resort's" intriguing, explosive and high-stakes submarine thriller premieres next week (Sept. 27). In addition to being a roller-coaster thrill ride, it features a huge, really good-looking ensemble cast -- including Andre Braugher's rogue submarine captain, his crew (why hello, Scott Speedman !) and the inhabitants of the island where they become stranded.

But don't let the tropical setting fool you into thinking this is another "Lost."

Co-creator Shawn Ryan (best known for his gritty, critically acclaimed cop drama "The Shield") acknowledges that "some similarities [to "Lost"] can't be avoided -- namely, a group of people on an island who would like to be home."

"[But] 'Lost was a mystery wrapped in an enigma," adds co-creator Karl Gajdusek. "We have some great mysteries on our show [like a top-level government conspiracy], but I could flat-out tell the audience the truth and it would not diminish our show one iota."

"If there is a similarity," muses Ryan, "it's that we're trying to dive deep into characters in a way that 'Lost' was very successful at doing on a network level -- in the midst of this incredible danger and high stakes and using that to reveal character."

When we asked how the producers plan to maintain the nail-biting suspense after the pilot's nuclear attack, Gajdusek said, "In episode two we play out a similar story on the microlevel: what happens when people come to kill you, and you have to try to survive. It's not about always globe-altering stakes [but there's always] a core of dramatic tension."

But the cast isn't always operating in crisis mode.

Ryan quips, "This isn't gonna be 'Modern Family,' [but] there's always going to be two or three spots an episode where we hit you unexpectedly with some humor."

"Our ambition is to find humor and sensuality and lighter, softer touches," agrees Gajdusek, "and then [dive] back into drama."

Sensuality?

"Listen, you can't hide that sexy cast," laughs Ryan. "I think we have the sexiest cast on TV. Andre has that ultimate intellectual sex appeal, you got Scott Speedman, the women are ungodly, and Daniel Lessing, who plays a SEAL-- he's kind of ridiculously hot.

"And yet [sex] got to mean something -- other than Kylie [Autumn Reeser]," Ryan continues, cracking up his partner. "I think Kylie sleeps around. Kylie's a little bit trashy. But with the other characters -- if they get together, it's gotta mean something."

"There's a scene in episode seven or eight that we're building towards -- it's the sexy version of what happened on the [submarine]," promises Gajdusek. "The tension, the unexpected stakes of it -- we did that, with sex...it's great!"

"Last Resort" premieres Thursday, Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. on ABC. Will you be watching?