(Cover image: Production Office)

In this new blog series, we will report on the production progress and other news of The Expanse each week. We will collect the latest social media and press activity from the show’s production team, cast, and the community. We hope this series will be useful for those who are not able to closely monitor social media, and provide 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, Orbit Books released Persepolis Rising in paperback. The latest novel of The Expanse is the seventh book in the planned nine-book series. The next entry, Tiamat’s Wrath, is scheduled for release in March. If you haven’t caught up on the books yet, be sure to grab your copy here.

We also have some potential casting news: Reddit user /u/El1045 spotted a cast entry for David Draper on the show’s IMDb page, to be played by Kolton Stewart. It’s important to note that anyone can edit IMDb listings, so until the production team confirms, this remains speculative. However, if true, it hints that we may see an adaptation of Gods of Risk, the novella exploring Bobbie Draper’s return to her home on Mars. We have already heard from Naren Shankar, the series showrunner, that Mars will be explored in greater detail this season, so this could be exciting news. Mars has seen the least screentime of all the three major factions so far, so MCR fans should be happy to hear that we may be seeing more of the red planet.

“We’ve never been to Mars, really. We’ve never been to the planet Mars in the course of the series. I’ll leave it at that.” – Naren Shankar (Via The Express)

Over on set in Toronto, the Production Office shared some photos of a new stage this week. The third photo in particular hints at what the location is – those who have read the books can probably guess. That said, it’s possible that this could also be a Martian set. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for more hints in the coming weeks.

The office also shared some insight into how script revisions work. For those interested in the process, check that out here. Also, big shout out to Kenn Fisher, an associate producer on the show who maintains the ExpansePO accounts on social media. Be sure to stay tuned for more fun set and production updates by following them on Twitter and Instagram.

In other news, Wes Chatham (Amos Burton) celebrated his 40th birthday this week, on October 11th! Check out this wonderful video clip of Wes being surprised with a cake on set, and be sure to @ him on Twitter and wish him a happy belated one if you haven’t already. Happy birthday, Wes!

Meanwhile, Cara Gee (Camina Drummer) sat down for an interview with the No Man’s Land blog. Check it out here for some insights from Cara on playing Drummer, returning for Season 4, and some memories about the International Space Development Conference (ISDC), where the show was renewed. PS: Thanks for bringing our banner back to set, Cara!

In other Belt-related news, Nick Farmer, the creator of the Belter creole language Lang-Belta, shared some tidbits as he is working on some new terminology for Season 4. For those interested in the language, check them out here and here. And if you are in the Baltimore area, be sure to catch Lang-Belta expert @ItReachesOut’s class at ChessieCon next month!

Finally, we wanted to give an honorary shout out to The Expanse board game by WizKids. I personally had no idea this existed until this week, so for those who don’t already know about it, do check it out and grab a copy over on Amazon or at your local games shop!

Community

People’s Choice Awards voting continued this week. Fans continued to release fun promotional material to motivate folks to vote. Also, E! published a video clip of Melanie Scrofano, star of Wynonna Earp – one of the other finalists – taking over the E! donut truck and interacting with fans. In the video, a hilariously rebellious Screaming Firehawk explains to Melanie how she voted for The Expanse instead. Way to go! If you haven’t been voting already, check out our voting guide with easy one-click voting buttons here.

The creatives in the community continue to impress and inspire. Fan bartending experts Paine x MacTane released two new cocktails this week: Check out their recipes for Knight and Razorback. Yam Seng! Also, take a look at this stunning painting of the Rocinante by William Yu on Instagram.

Finally, don’t forget about The Expanse Cosplay Week 2018, which begins on Monday. We know for a fact there are some avid cosplayers out there after our visit to DragonCon this year, so be sure to dress up and check out the instructions on how to participate. For any questions or comments, ping Christina Ward (@theora666) on Twitter.

That’s all for this week, folks. Check back next Sunday for a rundown of the upcoming week in the world of The Expanse. For those interested, our detailed record of Expanse-related 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!

Signing off,
Ed A.