Cover image: Tom Charters

In this blog series, we report on the production progress and other news of The Expanse each week. We collect the latest social media and press activity from the show’s production team, cast, and the community. We hope this series is useful for those who are not able to closely monitor social media but who want an easy way to catch up on all the latest Expanse updates each week.

To catch up on the previous week of updates, check out our last post here.

Production

This week in production news marks final filming activity for 2018 and our final Week in Review of 2018, as well. We’re also introduced to additional lesser-known, but vital, members of the crew and teased with info about Bobbie’s arc in Season 4.

  • Kenn Fisher of the Production Office let’s us know that there is a lot of hard logistical work that goes on behind-the-scenes, often handled by Kristie and Pazz – the 1st and 2nd ADs (Assistant Directors) – a round of applause for their contributions to The Expanse.
  • The production team frequently have dogs “assisting” them. It makes the environment so much less stressful (and they are adorable!).
  • Magali Simard, Film Sector Development Officer for the City of Toronto, visited the set this week and offered her support for the show and the fans. We hear that fans of The Expanse will be seeing more of Canada in the upcoming season as the show films on location near Toronto!
  • Frankie Adams (Bobbie Draper) teases Bobbie’s arc in Season 4 on Twitter, suggesting that it consists of a lot of material that wasn’t even in the books. The writers even got in on the tease as well. We’re excited, are you?

  • ‘Tis the Season. The art department was rewarded and recognized for the contributions that we appreciate in every episode, sometimes without realizing it!
  • We’re very jealous that the wardrobe department has access to extras from Avasarala’s luscious costumes. What a creative gift!
  • Jeremy Benning (Director of Photography) highlighted two focus pullers on Instagram, calling out their great work on the show. The job of a focus puller is to make sure that cameras are always focused on what they need to be, it can be incredibly difficult at times and often doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Shout out to Roy Boris and Craig Morgan.
  • The Production Office shows us what sets are used for when they’re not being filmed. We wish our office was the UN situation room…
  • Ugly Sweater Day in the Production Office, we think they outdid themselves.

Media

This week in media features a shout out from io9 and news that The Expanse has left Crave in Canada 😮.

  • Best Fanbase contest! We should win this hand’s down …
  • io9 released their “Best and Worst Television Moments of 2018” list this week, featuring a moment from Season 3 in the “best” section (we won’t spoil which). This list is full of heavy spoilers for all sorts of TV shows, so beware!
  • Dominic Audy reported to “Everything The Expanse” that Seasons 1-2 have been taken off of the Canadian streaming service Crave. Crave was the last international streaming service where The Expanse was available. Hopefully, this means that it will be coming to Amazon Prime for international viewers soon.
  • We wish our weekend involved Tiamat’s Wrath. Daniel Abraham shows off the inside cover for the eighth Expanse book on Twitter.

Cast

This week, the cast wrapped filming for the year, and will return in January. You can tell the cast enjoys filming the show, but also enjoys spending time together, and well-earned breaks.

  • Steven Strait offered his well-wishes to the fans for the holidays on his final day of filming for 2018. Happy holidays to you as well, Steven!
  • In other Steven Strait news, the Production Office shared how much of an avid reader the captain of the Roci is.
  • We hear there was a midseason wrap party. We’re jelly.
  • Anna Hopkins discusses working on two shows at once: Shadowhunters and The Expanse. She shares one of the most difficult aspects of juggling these two jobs.
  • Although we missed this last week, the friendship amongst the Expanse castmates is palpable.

Community

There was a strong showing of fan art once again in the community this week, as well as a new reviewer popping up on YouTube.

  • Amos is secretly … Santa.

That’s all for this week, folks. We hope that your holidays are wonderful. Check back next year for our first Week in Review for 2019 and thank you for all of your support for The Expanse Lives since we launched in September. We’ve got lots planned for 2019 that we can’t wait for you to see, so stay tuned, folks!

For those interested, our detailed record of Expanse-related web activity for this month (assembled by SkalmanIsDaMan) is available here. As always, if we missed something you think belongs in this article, please get in touch with us and let us know!

Thanks for reading and happy holidays!
Joe and Kiddle