Warning: General spoilers ahead

If you’re a complete “virgin” of The Expanse books like I am, then the ending of season 1 was a jaw-dropping shocker. And, if you’re like me, you probably had plenty of questions and wanted to pitch a huge hissy fit when you realized you’d have to wait nearly a year to get any answers. I mean, just what the hell is the Protomolecule? Where did it come from? Obviously, Earth is trying to use it as some kind of bio-weapon, but anything beyond that is still a mystery. And, who or what is ‘Thoth’ that Dresden sent all of that encrypted data to in the last scene of the season finale?

While season 2 of The Expanse won’t be premiering until December, the series did make an appearance at San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend, and so, we were able to get the first details of what to expect going into the new season. Season 1 was, for the most part, a mystery. “A lot of conspiracy, a lot of shadow play” as Executive Producer Naren Shankar explained. No one really knew what was going on, aside from the fact that something really bad happened on the Scopuli which, in turn, created a chain reaction of events. What’s more, we really didn’t know who all the players were, and which ones could be trusted.  A good deal of these questions were finally answered at the end of season 1.

So, going in season 2, the focus is going to shift to increasing the momentum of the story and advancing the plot. “A big part of season 2 is understanding this Protomolecule, understanding what it’s doing, why people are after it. The story is played much more in forward momentum and forward discovery. So, it’s much less shadow play and much less of ‘Yes, it’s THAT guy behind the curtain.’” the Executive Producers said. And, this isn’t an accident either. Season 1 was set up exactly as it was so that they could do precisely this in season 2.

As for the characters, we are getting at least 1 new face very early on in the new season. A Martian Marine by the name of Bobbie Draper and portrayed by New Zealand actress and boxer Frankie Adams will be introduced. Draper is a gunnery sergeant, towers over 6 ft. tall and so, as a result, be prepared for lots of action sequences.  The good news is while the character isn’t introduced until Book 2 (and we still have about 1/3 of Book 1 left to cover), the writers decided to move up her entrance in the television series. “You will meet her in the first three seconds of the show. She’s in the opener. We do pull things forward in the book, we’ve pulled things out of the novella, a lot of rearrangement of certain elements, but while respecting the overall plot framework of those books,” Executive Producer Shankar explained.

But, what about the existing characters? Not many details were revealed, but we can expect more of the partnership between Miller (Thomas Jane)  and Holden (Steven Strait)  especially since it worked so well at the end of season 1.  When asked about whether he’s happy with how his character was left at the end of season 1, Thomas Jane laughed and said, “Well, I didn’t die, so I guess I’m happy! It’s always good when you’re not killed off!” Unfortunately, it does look like they may be following the books with respect to Miller’s overall storyline, and for those who are familiar with the source material, you know it doesn’t spell good news for the Detective Miller fans out there. The season will open with Miller suffering from cancer that is the result of his exposure to radiation in the season 1 finale. I won’t spoil it for the viewers who haven’t read the books, but if they follow the source material, Miller’s obsession with Julie Mao will likely continue which will cause him to make a critical life-and-death decision.

The Expanse  returns for season 2 in December 2016. In the meantime, check out the below video interviews as well as the first season 2 trailer.

PHOTOS

 

VIDEO

Season 2 Trailer

Series star Thomas Jane (“Detective Joe Miller”)

Series stars Frankie Adams (“Bobbie Draper”) and Shohreh Aghdashloo (“Chrisjen Avasarala”)

Executive Producers Mark Fergus and Naren Shanker

 

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