(Cover image: Prime Video)

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.

Production

After Amazon acquired The Expanse in May, preparations for the new season immediately went underway as the writer’s room started writing the episodes and the production office began to prepare for shooting. Finally, after several months of pre-production and a week of table reads and rehearsals, the shooting of the first block of Season 4 officially began on October 1st, 2018. Alcon Entertainment, the show’s production company, congratulated the team on Twitter.

With the cast & crew happily reunited on set in Toronto, photos and videos of the process began to surface on social media from the production office, writer’s room, and various members of the cast and crew. The production office also started a new Instagram account, which you can follow here, and last week the team thanked the fans in a short live stream by Cas Anvar.

A tweet from Amazon’s Prime Video account revealed the title of the first episode: “New Terra” – a reference to the planet on the other side of the ring where much of Season 4 is likely to take place. Director Breck Eisner later shared a photo from an outdoor set, featuring what appears to be Steven Strait (James Holden) and Dominique Tipper (Naomi Nagata) embracing each other as they watch a foreign sunset on the surface of the alien planet.

In other news, The Expanse Writers announced that a change of ownership for the official Twitter handle of the show (currently still @ExpanseSyfy) is in the works, which means that the show will have an official Twitter presence as part of Amazon’s marketing effort. The production office also shared a handy chart roughly illustrating the block scheduling process for the show that the team has followed since Season 1, for those interested in the process. And on September 30th, Netflix’s streaming rights for The Expanse officially expired after being acquired for global distribution by Amazon, although it is not yet known when the series will be available on Prime Video internationally.

As the week drew to a close and the cast & crew celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving, New York Comic Con (NYCC) was underway in New York. The was some fan presence at the convention (more on that in a moment), but sadly no one from the series could make it down as the event conflicted with the first week of production. However, Amazon Prime released a wonderful video clip with Steven Strait, Dominique Tipper, and Wes Chatham thanking fans for their continued dedication and support and sharing a few fun gags from the set. Cara Gee appeared as well, dancing around the set and sporting a sleek new OPA uniform.

Finally, the latest episode of WIRED’s Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast was released this week, featuring Hallie Lambert, a staff writer on the show and manager of TheExpanseWR Twitter account. Lambert discussed her career, working on The Expanse, and the emotional #SaveTheExpanse campaign in May. It was accompanied by an article in WIRED, titled “Saving The Expanse is One of Fandom’s Great Triumphs“.

That’s all for production news this week! The shooting will continue for the next four months, and we will continue covering the process as best we can. Read on for community updates.

Community

Last week, Alt Shift X, a popular YouTuber known for his thorough analysis of fictional lore (most notably Game of Thrones), released his first video about The Expanse. The video was chosen for production after his viewers and fellow Expanse fans voted for the show to be covered in his Patreon poll last month. The video is a great spoiler-free primer for those just getting into the series. Check it out here.

This week, voting mobilization for the E! People’s Choice Awards continued. Fans have been releasing tongue-in-cheek video clips and promotional graphics on social media encouraging fans to continue voting in the competition. Cas Anvar and Shohreh Aghdashloo also hosted a short live stream from a park in Toronto encouraging fans to vote further and listing several reasons for its significance. For detailed instructions on how to vote, check out our article with easy one-click voting buttons here.

Screaming Firehawk @theora666 released the latest issue of her monthly community newsletter Here Comes the Juice, featuring an interview with Sean Baek (Killjoys), who portrayed Commander Kunis in the third season of the show. The winner of the Season 4 hype contest was also announced to be @BelterGirlD192, with @Jessicat_1211 receiving a bonus prize. Here is a photo of the prizes.

In New York, NYCC was underway this weekend. Although the cast was not present at the event this year, some fans did turn up to represent The Expanse, with a few cosplayers including this adorable little girl dressed as Naomi Nagata. A number of meetups were also hosted by a local fan, and an E! sponsored donut truck outside the convention center distributed Expanse-themed donuts to fans who voted for it as the best Sci-Fi/Fantasy show in the PCAs.

On Saturday, a new episode of the Tightbeam Podcast was published, featuring an interview with Shawn Doyle, who plays Sadavir Errinwright in the show. Listen to it here.

And on Sunday, a new fan edit was published by DQ87, hyping fans up for the upcoming season. Check it out here. Also, shout out to The Expanse Roleplay Board, who will soon be celebrating their one year anniversary. Check out their website and be sure to follow them 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 web activity over the last few weeks (assembled by SkalmanIsDaMan) is available here. If we missed something you think belongs in this article, please get in touch with us and let us know!

Last updated on October 8th, 02:39PM.