A crash course for watching The Expanse #ScreamingFirehawks

If you never watched The Expanse before here are some cliff notes to get you caught up for the new season…

At New York Comic-Con 2019, The Expanse debuted its season 4, episode 1 premiere to fans and media alike. Fans were excited that Jeff Bezos’ Amazon Prime picked-up the sci-fi series almost immediately after it was dropped from the SYFY network. For those who aren’t aware, The Exapnse is a realistic sci-fi journey of humans and alien lifeforms battling over who deserves to occupy space and how much of it.

Unlike other sci-fi popular series like Star Trek and Star Wars, The Expanse doesn’t provide the typical escapism that fans might be used to. Instead, it offers a more realistic, space opera scenario of how humans would try to invade space and other non-Earth territories to survive. If you enjoy a lot of character building, this is the perfect show for you. The Expanse is based on the books by James S.A. Corey (which is the joint pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) and season 4, episode 1 kicks off with space political drama that will unravel right in front of your eyes.

So you’ve never seen The Expanse before? Let me catch you up. The first season is about humans searching for a missing girl and are caught in the middle of the biggest human conspiracy known to the universe. The protomolecule is like a source of energy that can replicate its surroundings and so far, seems pretty indestructible. In season 2, more unlikely human allies link up with Rocinante and uncover more details about the protomolecule and this human conspiracy. More political drama ensues and we are introduced to Martian Marines! Now in season 3 is where it gets juicy. Mars is now fighting Earth humans and it’s literally a war going on in space. The protomolecule is a real threat to the future of humanity and the Rocinante crew become so flustered that they are fighting amongst themselves and making questionable decisions.

Now that you are up to speed, here is what is going on in season 4, episode one. Now that there is a war in space we see that the Rings are like space gold with its resources but the Belters are not amused. They have endured so much oppression, especially from the Inner Planets that their disdain and trauma haunt them, understandable of course. Space turns into a bloody war zone and we see a new location called Ilus. Ilus is an unpopulated world and humans are doing what they do best — plotting. The humans have no idea how to navigate (politically or tactically) and the story really nails how we see class and internalize social class.

Remember the stories of everyone rushing west to mind gold? Something similar happens with Ilus and everyone wants to mine the “New Terra”. However, things get more complicated the RCE ( the energy company) finds the refugees from the Asteroid Belt who are claiming Ilus as their home, too. To not spoil everything for you, the humans will try to make everyone happy but they execute it terribly.

If you enjoy political stories and sci-fi you need to hurry up and jump on The Expanse team. It’s realistic, beautifully shot and the character development makes it worth the wait. Stay tuned to exclusive New York Comic Con interview coverage with the cast of The Expanse as they talk about the new season.