119 Fun Facts About The Expanse

In The Expanse pilot, what does Avasarala use to torture a captured Belter operative?

Earth's gravity does the work: the Belter, raised in low g, is hung up to bear his own weight until her superior objects and she ships him off to the Moon.

Which streaming service revived The Expanse after Syfy cancelled it?

Amazon Prime Video picked the show up the same month Syfy dropped it, after a fan petition to save it passed 100,000 signatures.

What is Amos Burton's job aboard the Rocinante in The Expanse?

Mechanic was already his job on the ice hauler he served on; he outlived it only because he was one of five crew sent off in a shuttle to answer a distress call.

Under what pen name are The Expanse novels written?

James S. A. Corey is a name assembled by the two co-authors: James and Corey are their middle names.

What rank does Bobbie Draper hold in the Martian Marine Corps in The Expanse?

Gunnery sergeant Draper seeks asylum on Earth in season 2, yet the Marines reinstate her in season 3 and send her out with the Martian fleet.

Whom do the initials S. A. in The Expanse authors' pen name refer to?

Abraham's daughter supplied the initials; the full name was built to sound like a science fiction writer of the 1970s.

What is the title of the first novel in The Expanse series?

Leviathan Wakes proved too big for one TV season: the show only reaches the novel's ending partway through its second.

What is the title of the ninth and final Expanse novel?

Leviathan Falls ends a story the TV series never finished: the show stops at the sixth novel, leaving the last three books unfilmed.

Which Hugo Award did The Expanse novels win in 2020?

Best Series went to The Expanse in 2020, three years after it lost the award's first vote to Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga.

Who plays James Holden in The Expanse?

Steven Strait plays Holden, whose system-wide broadcast blaming Mars for his ship's destruction pushes Earth, Mars and the Belt toward war.

Who plays Naomi Nagata in The Expanse?

Dominique Tipper plays Naomi, the Belter engineer who leaves the Rocinante in season 3 to help run the OPA's flagship, then finds her heart is still with her old crew.

Who plays Amos Burton in The Expanse?

Wes Chatham went on to co-host the show's weekly aftershow with Ty Franck, unpacking each new episode as it was released.

Who plays pilot Alex Kamal in The Expanse?

Cas Anvar plays Alex Kamal, the Martian pilot who chose flying over his wife and son and gets a cold welcome when he finally goes home in season 5.

Which company employs Miller as a detective in The Expanse?

Star Helix employs Miller until he pushes a missing-person case too far: when he brings his boss what he has found, she fires him and strips his clearances.

Who plays Chrisjen Avasarala in The Expanse?

Shohreh Aghdashloo plays Avasarala, who begins the series as a deputy undersecretary and ends up running Earth once her superior is jailed for treason.

Who plays Martian marine Bobbie Draper in The Expanse?

Frankie Adams plays Bobbie, the marine who walks out of her own embassy to seek asylum on Earth after learning her squad was sacrificed to test a new weapon.

Who plays Camina Drummer in The Expanse?

Cara Gee plays Drummer, who rises from second-in-command on Tycho Station to lead a Belter faction of her own; Gee voiced her again in the 2023 video game prequel.

Who plays the Belter leader Marco in The Expanse?

Keon Alexander plays Marco, a recurring guest in season 4 who ends it by killing Klaes Ashford and is promoted to the main cast for season 5.

What is the name of the ice hauler destroyed at the start of The Expanse?

The Canterbury, the ice hauler Holden serves on, is destroyed by a stealth ship in the pilot; Mars is blamed, pushing the system toward war.

In The Expanse, what was the Rocinante called when it was a Martian gunship?

The Tachi carries Holden's crew off a dying Martian flagship; they change its transponder code and rename it Rocinante to hide where it came from.

Which Martian flagship is lost to an attack by stealth ships in season 1 of The Expanse?

The Donnager picks up Holden's crew, is crippled and boarded by stealth ships, and is then blown up by its own captain.

Whom is detective Miller assigned to find in season 1 of The Expanse?

Julie Mao is the runaway heiress Miller is told to find and send home to her rich parents; he learns she had been working with the OPA.

Who is Miller's Earth-born police partner in season 1 of The Expanse?

Dimitri Havelock is an Earther working a Belter beat; when Holden's broadcast sets off riots on the station, he is ambushed and badly wounded.

In season 3 of The Expanse, on which moon is the secret lab that turns children into protomolecule hybrids?

Io hides the lab where Dr Strickland keeps the stolen children in stasis; the Rocinante's crew trace a protomolecule signal there.

In The Expanse, what does OPA stand for?

Outer Planets Alliance: Earth and Mars brand the Belter movement terrorists, yet one of its chief leaders is a former UN colonel who changed sides.

What is the name of the government on Mars in The Expanse?

The Martian Congressional Republic governs a planet built around terraforming, a generations-long project that stalls once the Ring opens ready-made worlds.

In The Expanse, what do Belters call people from Earth and Mars?

Inners covers Earthers and Martians alike; as tensions rise in season 2, the Belter crew of a refugee ship throws its Inner passengers out of the airlock.

In The Expanse, what does the crew use to lure a protomolecule hybrid off the Rocinante?

A nuclear warhead works because the creature craves radiation: Prax throws one out of the cargo bay, the hybrid leaps after it, and the ship's drive burns it up.

In The Expanse, into which planet does the asteroid Eros finally crash?

Venus takes the impact after Miller reaches the mind steering the asteroid and talks it into turning away from Earth.

In The Expanse, which ship is commandeered to try to knock Eros into the Sun?

The Nauvoo, the generation ship under construction at Tycho, is launched at Eros to push it into the Sun; Eros dodges, revealing it is being steered.

Which religious group commissioned the generation ship that is launched at Eros in The Expanse?

Mormons commissioned the ship for a voyage to another star; it never makes the trip, because the OPA seizes it for the Eros mission and later refits it as a warship.

In The Expanse, on which moon is Bobbie's Martian squad massacred by an inhuman figure?

Ganymede, the Belt's breadbasket, loses its farm domes when orbital mirrors fall in the same battle, and Bobbie, the lone survivor, is ordered to Earth to give her account.

In The Expanse, whose company creates the protomolecule hybrid soldiers?

Jules-Pierre Mao's company builds the hybrids from abducted children with a rare genetic condition, deliberately infecting them with the protomolecule.

In The Expanse, what is botanist Prax searching for in season 2?

His daughter Mei was taken by her own paediatrician just before the battle; when Prax finally corners the doctor, Amos shoots him so that Prax does not have to.

In The Expanse, beyond which planet's orbit does the Ring settle?

Uranus marks the spot: the protomolecule structure flies out past its orbit to build the Ring, and Earth, Mars and the Belt each race a fleet there.

In The Expanse, what kind of ship is the first to fly through the Ring?

A Belter racing ship gets there first: its pilot slingshots in at full speed, and the Ring stops the ship dead in an instant, killing him.

In The Expanse, what name is given to the projection of Miller that appears to Holden?

The Investigator is a protomolecule construct wearing Miller's persona; it steers Holden toward the Ring to look into what became of the civilisation behind it.

In The Expanse, roughly how many star systems do the Ring gates open up?

1,300 or so systems open up at once, and the rush to claim their planets drives the rest of the series.

In The Expanse, what does the RCE expedition call the planet its Belter settlers named Ilus?

New Terra is the name used by the Earth-backed RCE expedition; the Belter refugees who ran a blockade to land first call it Ilus, and the two sides are soon in an armed standoff.

Which Torchwood actor plays RCE security chief Murtry in The Expanse?

Burn Gorman plays Murtry, the corporate security chief who shoots Amos's fingers off in the episode 'Saeculum'.

Which novel is season 4 of The Expanse almost entirely adapted from?

Cibola Burn sends the Rocinante to a world beyond the gates, to referee Belter refugees and an Earth-backed expedition fighting over one alien planet.

In The Expanse, what hides Marco's asteroids from Earth's defences in season 5?

Martian stealth technology coats the rocks, so Earth's spotters cannot see them; its spy satellites are only linked in after two have struck.

In The Expanse, what does Marco call the Belter faction he leads against Earth and Mars?

The Free Navy is the name Marco announces as he claims the attacks on Earth, demanding that the inner planets hand it control of the ring gates.

What is the name of Marco's flagship in The Expanse?

The Pella is where Marco holds Naomi captive in season 5, until she escapes through an airlock; it was a Martian warship before it became his flagship.

In The Expanse, who assassinates Fred on Tycho Station in season 5?

Sakai, the chief engineer of Tycho, is Marco's inside agent: she shoots Fred during the raid and helps the attackers steal the station's protomolecule sample.

Which Rocinante crew member dies of a stroke in the season 5 finale of The Expanse?

Alex dies at the controls: the high-g burn he flies to reach Naomi brings on a stroke, a risk the crew run on every hard burn.

In The Expanse, what does Naomi inject herself with before leaping out of an airlock in season 5?

Hyper-oxygenated blood keeps Naomi conscious on a short leap across open vacuum from Marco's ship to the rigged vessel parked alongside it.

In The Expanse, what is the name of the ship Marco rigs as a trap for the Rocinante?

The Chetzemoka had been Naomi's gift to Filip; Marco rigs it with a bomb and a faked distress call and leaves it as bait for the Rocinante.

Where does Amos commandeer a suborbital shuttle to get off Earth in season 5 of The Expanse?

Lake Winnipesaukee, a holiday retreat of abandoned mansions, has a private shuttle; Amos's party takes it and lets the stranded winter staff come along.

In The Expanse, whom is Amos visiting in prison when the asteroids hit Earth?

Clarissa Melpomene Mao is held in a high-security underground prison; the second impact wrecks it, and she and Amos climb a service ladder to the scorched surface.

In The Expanse, which crime boss from Amos's home city is an old friend of his?

Erich, a crime boss in Amos's home city, grew up with him; Amos leans on him so his late foster mother Lydia's partner can keep her house.

What is the name of the alien world where season 6 of The Expanse opens?

Laconia, a world beyond the Ring settled by a rogue Martian fleet, hosts the season 6 storyline adapted from the novella Strange Dogs.

In The Expanse's final season, what do the "strange dogs" do for young Cara?

Bring her dead brother back to life is exactly what they do: Xan returns with pitch-black eyes, and the sight of him horrifies their parents.

In The Expanse finale, how is Marco finally defeated?

The Ring entities consume his fleet mid-transit because Naomi's plan wakes them at the very moment Marco's ships cross; Filip, disillusioned, has already slipped away in a skiff.

What post is Holden chosen for at the end of The Expanse?

President of the Transport Union is a job Holden holds for moments: he accepts on condition that Drummer is his deputy, then resigns so that a Belter runs it.

In The Expanse, how many parents does James Holden have?

Eight parents in a family co-op each gave DNA to their one son; Avasarala later visits one of his mothers to work out what drives him.

What is the first name of Chrisjen Avasarala's husband?

Arjun Avasarala, a poet and professor played by Brian George, is Chrisjen's husband and her confidant through the early seasons.

In The Expanse, what is OPA leader Fred's grim nickname?

The Butcher of Anderson Station is the name Fred earned as a UN Marine colonel, storming a station whose striking miners had tried to surrender; he later quit and joined the Belt's cause.

Who plays OPA power broker Anderson Dawes in The Expanse?

Jared Harris plays Dawes, who quietly spirits the captured protomolecule scientist off Tycho Station from under Fred's nose in season 2.

Who plays Belter pirate turned Behemoth XO Klaes Ashford in The Expanse?

David Strathairn plays Ashford, who is thrown out of an airlock by Marco but secretly records their last conversation first, leaving a warning of the attack to come.

What is the Behemoth renamed once it controls the Ring space?

Medina Station is the Behemoth's new name: parked in the Ring space under Drummer, it controls the hub, so every ship bound for the new worlds passes through Belter hands.

Which UN undersecretary in The Expanse secretly conspires with Julie's father?

Sadavir Errinwright secretly backs the alien-weapons project and pushes Earth into war with Mars; he is arrested for treason in season 3 once the conspiracy is exposed.

Under what alias does Clarissa Mao sneak aboard the UN fleet in season 3?

Clarissa poses as Melba Koh, an electrochemical technician on the UNN Thomas Prince; she sabotages the Seung Un and frames Holden for it.

Who plays Methodist pastor Anna Volovodov in The Expanse's third season?

Elizabeth Mitchell, Juliet on Lost, plays the pastor who exposes a UN official's treason in season 3 and gets him arrested.

What was the Rocinante temporarily renamed to hide in season 3?

Pinus Contorta, the lodgepole pine, is the name botanist Prax offers when Naomi asks for a new transponder identity, hiding the ship as war breaks out between Earth and Mars.

What is the racing ship Razorback renamed when Alex and Bobbie fly it in season 5?

Screaming Firehawk is the name Alex wanted for the Rocinante in season 1; Holden vetoed it, the show's fans took it as their own nickname, and season 5 finally puts it on a ship.

What stunt did fans of The Expanse crowdfund during the #SaveTheExpanse campaign?

A banner towed by a plane circled over the offices of the studio fans hoped would rescue the cancelled show; within the month, it had a new home there.

What dish does pilot Alex cook to bring the Rocinante's crew together in season 2 of The Expanse?

Lasagna is Alex's peace offering: after a fight aboard, the crew drift in one by one, and even Amos and Miller set their distrust aside over dinner.

Who developed The Expanse for television and wrote its pilot?

Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby developed the series and wrote its pilot; the network skipped the usual trial episode and ordered ten episodes straight to series.

Which Marvel film did the developers of The Expanse co-write before the series?

Iron Man was written by two teams at once: director Jon Favreau had two pairs of writers at work in parallel, the duo behind The Expanse among them, and all four share the screenplay credit.

Which showrunner of The Expanse holds a PhD in applied physics and electrical engineering?

Naren Shankar earned his doctorate at Cornell, then chose writing over the lab: he joined Star Trek: The Next Generation as an intern and later became its science consultant.

Which long-running CBS crime drama did the lead showrunner of The Expanse previously co-run?

CSI was his home for years before The Expanse; a trained scientist who gave up the lab for television, he had started out on Star Trek's writing staff.

Linguist Nick Farmer built The Expanse's Belter Creole mainly on which real language?

English is the base of Belter Creole: Nick Farmer imagined crews from all over Earth mixing in the Belt, so he folded in words from Spanish, German, Russian and many more.

In The Expanse, what do Belters call the creole they speak?

Lang Belta is the Belters' own name for it; once the show took off, its creator kept releasing new words on Twitter and gave fans lessons at meet-ups.

In which city was The Expanse filmed?

Toronto doubled for the future Earth: scenes at the United Nations, where Avasarala works, were shot inside the city's Roy Thomson Hall, a concert venue.

Which production company, also behind Blade Runner 2049, financed and produced The Expanse?

Alcon Entertainment paid for the show itself and sold seasons to a network, so when that network cancelled it, Alcon could shop the series to a new home.

Which landmark do The Expanse's opening titles show with the sea rising around it?

The Statue of Liberty stands in rising water as glaciers melt in the opening shots; the designers wanted to show a warming Earth pushing humanity out into space.

The Expanse's composer Clinton Shorter earlier scored which 2009 science-fiction film?

District 9 grew out of Neill Blomkamp's short Alive in Joburg; Clinton Shorter had scored the short and went on to score the feature.

The Expanse's title theme, sung by Lisbeth Scott, has lyrics drawn from which language?

Norwegian is the root of the words Lisbeth Scott wrote and sings over the title theme, bent into a sort of 'future Norwegian' for a setting where languages have drifted.

Which season 5 finale of The Expanse won the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form?

Nemesis Games won in 2022, a year after the same season's Gaugamela was nominated and lost; the season 1 and season 6 finales took the show's other two Hugos.

What is the title of The Expanse's first episode?

Dulcinea, the series premiere, is named for Don Quixote's idealised lady, just as the Rocinante is named for his horse.

In The Expanse, what do crews call the drug cocktail injected before high-g burns?

The juice is a cocktail of stimulants and protective drugs pumped into crew strapped in their crash couches, so they stay conscious and their bodies survive a hard burn.

Which cast member of The Expanse directed the season 5 episode "Mother"?

Thomas Jane came back behind the camera for "Mother", a season after his character's last appearance on screen.

Which episode of The Expanse drew the show's biggest live television audience?

The series premiere drew 1.19 million viewers, a mark no later episode matched, even though the network had already posted it online three weeks earlier.

Which season of The Expanse was by far its shortest?

Season 6 ran only six episodes, against ten or thirteen for every earlier season; it wrapped up the war with Marco and left the last three novels unfilmed.

Where was The Expanse's pilot first screened, months before its television premiere?

San Diego Comic-Con saw the pilot in July 2015, five months before it aired; the network then put the whole episode online three weeks ahead of its TV debut.

What shorthand did industry insiders use for The Expanse when the series was ordered in 2014?

Game of Thrones in space was the pitch line, less for the plot than for a sprawling, grown-up saga drawn from respected novels; the network won a bidding war for it.

In The Expanse, which fusion engine, capable of continuous acceleration, opened the Solar System to human colonisation?

The Epstein Drive is named for Solomon Epstein, the Martian who built it: on its test flight the engine worked far better than planned, carrying him into deep space with no way back.

In The Expanse, which Earth city did Amos Burton grow up in?

Baltimore is Amos's home city; season 5 sends him back to settle an old friend's affairs, which puts him on Earth when Marco's attack begins.

Where do Holden's co-op parents live?

Holden's co-op parents farm in Montana; Avasarala visits his mother Elise there in season 1 to understand what drives him.

Which moon does Earth destroy in retaliation for Mars's strike on Phoebe?

Earth's navy destroys Deimos, Mars's smaller moon, in retaliation for Mars destroying Phoebe; the strike splits opinion in Bobbie's squad.

Which Protogen scientist does Miller execute on Thoth Station?

Antony Dresden offers to change sides if he can carry on the work; Miller cuts the bargaining short by shooting him in the head.

Whom does Naomi secretly give the Rocinante's alien sample to?

Naomi secretly hands the Rocinante's alien sample to Fred Johnson in season 2, believing the Belt needs the same leverage Earth and Mars have.

Which UN research ship is taken apart mid-descent above the alien structure it came to study?

The Arboghast is stopped mid-descent and pulled apart piece by piece in an expanding sphere; soon afterwards the structure lifts off and builds the Ring.

Which UN flagship does an infected Cotyar blow up to stop the alien contagion spreading?

The Agatha King is hit by one of the hybrid-carrying pods its own admiral had just launched at Mars; Cotyar, a prisoner aboard, scuttles the infected ship.

Whom does Drummer's tribunal acquit in season 4, to keep the OPA united?

Marco Inaros walks free by a single vote, cast last by Drummer herself, although he had seized the colony ship Sojourner and executed the people aboard.

Why is Holden immune to the organisms that blind the settlers in season 4?

His anticancer medication, taken since he absorbed a heavy radiation dose in season 1, is what protects his eyes; Elvi Okoye works that out and makes a cure from it.

Who wins the UN Secretary-General election against Avasarala in season 4?

Nancy Gao wins on a promise to open the new worlds to settlers, then dies in the attack on Earth a season later; by that season's end Avasarala is back in the job.

What does Bobbie do for a living at the start of season 4?

Dismantles decommissioned warships: the ex-marine is stuck breaking up Martian navy ships, and when she reports stolen parts she is the one who gets arrested.

Where does Naomi finally meet her son in season 5?

Pallas Station is where Naomi tracks her son down, hoping to make peace; he is furious with her, and the old friends she meets there take her captive.

Which rogue Martian admiral do Alex and Bobbie investigate for arms trafficking in season 5?

Sauveterre commands the rogue Martian warships; Alex cannot get near him, so he dates the admiral's aide instead and is jumped by two attackers.

Which Belt world does Marco proclaim his capital in season 6 of The Expanse?

Ceres is hailed as the Belt's capital, then stripped of supplies and abandoned before the Earth and Mars fleet arrives, a retreat that costs Marco support among his own people.

Which spotter ship, guiding Marco's bombardment of Earth, does the Rocinante capture in season 6?

The Azure Dragon is boarded by Bobbie and the Rocinante's crew, who seize its data core intact: it shows where everything Marco still has aimed at Earth is hiding.

What weapons does Marco's fleet mount on the Ring Station in season 6 of The Expanse?

Railguns on the station wipe out a Martian strike force in seconds; a boarding team from the Rocinante lands to capture them and has to blow them up instead.

Which studio co-developed the 2023 Expanse video game with Deck Nine?

Telltale Games made the game with Deck Nine as a prequel: you play Drummer, second-in-command of the scavenger ship Artemis, and your choices decide the ship's fate when the crew mutinies.

Which comic series continues The Expanse's television story after season 6?

The Expanse: Dragon Tooth carries on from the finale into the three decades the novels skip before Persepolis Rising, the gap where the TV series chose to pause.

Shohreh Aghdashloo earned an Oscar nomination for which film?

House of Sand and Fog came after years of small roles: a film star in 1970s Iran, she emigrated and waited about two decades for the part that revived her career.

Which Marvel antihero did Expanse actor Thomas Jane play in a 2004 film?

The Punisher was a part Thomas Jane turned down at first because he did not want superhero roles; he agreed once he learned that Frank Castle has no superpowers.

Strathairn was Oscar-nominated for playing which broadcaster?

Strathairn played Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), which dramatised Murrow's on-air clash with Senator McCarthy.

Expanse actor Wes Chatham played rebel cameraman Castor in which film franchise?

The Hunger Games cast Wes Chatham as Castor, one of the crew who film Katniss's rebel propaganda spots; he appears in both Mockingjay films and dies in the assault on the Capitol.

Frankie Adams got her first role at 16 on which long-running New Zealand soap?

Shortland Street cast Frankie Adams as teenager Ula Levi; four years on, she stepped into the ring for the Fight for Life charity boxing night.

What does Martian marine Bobbie Draper slip out of her embassy on Earth to see?

The ocean draws her out: confined to quarters, she slips away, crosses a camp of homeless Earthers and reaches the shore, where Avasarala finally gets her alone.

In which 2006 horror film did Steven Strait play warlock Caleb Danvers?

The Covenant makes Caleb's gift a trap: the four heirs of colonial witch families grow stronger at 18, but the power is addictive, and overusing it ages them fast.

Which warning from Miller gives a season 2 episode of The Expanse its title?

Doors and corners are where they get you, the detective warns: those are the spots to watch whenever you enter a room. The second episode of season 2 borrows the line.

Who narrates the audiobook editions of The Expanse novels?

Jefferson Mays reads all nine novels; the same actor won a Tony for playing some forty roles alone on stage in I Am My Own Wife.

The Expanse's authors also wrote the 2014 novel Honor Among Thieves for which franchise?

Star Wars: the pair wrote Honor Among Thieves under their shared pen name, sending Han Solo into the heart of the Empire to extract a rebel spy.

Which fantasy author employed Ty Franck as a personal assistant?

George R. R. Martin employed Ty Franck as his assistant, praised the novels as a 'really kick-ass space opera', and later lent his name to the campaign to save the TV show.

What was Ty Franck originally building The Expanse's world as the setting for?

Ty Franck first built the world as the setting for an MMORPG pitch; when that failed it became a tabletop RPG campaign, and player Daniel Abraham suggested novels.

In the later Expanse novels, which Martian defector rules a new empire as High Consul?

Winston Duarte, a Martian admiral, leads a breakaway fleet through the gates, founds an empire there, and doses himself with alien technology to become all but immortal.