Is anybody else watching The Expanse?

dude

his range in acting is such that he was completely incognito

what makes little sense is when he showed up on Always Sunny, I said "that's Cutty" immediately, yet no reaction when I saw him on the Expanse

the game wasn't in him anymore

in the books he survives the assassination

Drummer wasn't a fan favorite by then. There's certainly some influence of the show on the later books.

Cara Gee deserves immense credit for what she's done with that role. She rules.

Yeah the show is playing out a bit differently than the books, moreso in the later seasons. I was surprised that some chunks of book 6 (which I just finished) were pulled into season 5 - I feel they'll have to add quite a bit of new or future material to season 6 to compensate. Incidentally book 6 was my least favorite thus far, didn't have enough to it, too many POVs

started this up recently, about 6 episodes in, still on the fence

noooo keep going it's so good. but honestly if those first 6 don't hook you it might just not be for you. by the time they escaped the Martian ship I was hooked.

I'm convinced that the Rocinante is a sly reference to "Cygnus X-1" and "Hemispheres" by Rush

Heh I knew of the Don Quixote reference but not the Rush one, seems likely to have inspired the books

I saw the Fred Jackson/Cutty guy in Walking Dead back when I was watching that. Think I've seen him elsewhere too.

Used to be a time when it seemed that there was only a small pool of black actors that were used at any one time. Like there were only 5 black actors permitted in Hollywood. So hope that is becoming a thing of the past.

He's also in The Orville but you're unlikely to recognise him from that

yeah he's under prosthetics but I think he can be recognised a bit. Have managed to do that before. Did know who he was when you said taht. but may have looked it up before.
THink he has been in a few things anyway.

OH & probably nice that Expanse does seem to be using a pretty diverse array of ethnicities. Not read teh boooks yet so not sure to what extent that reflects teh source material.
BUt does seem that there are diverse people in authority roles and things doesn't it.
Which I hope more projects do

I don't recall the books specifying any ethnicities but things like Avasarala's saris and last name give some hints

The main weakness in terms of representation on the show is that everyone is apparently cis, which is extra glaring cause, yknow, it's the future? I remember when Spartacus' showrunner announced that he was going to make an extremely horny and gay sci-fi series for Starz, but they pulled the plug at seemingly the last minute...someone still needs to make that show

everyone is apparently cis

Except for Drummer and at least half her crew, sure.

mmmmmm you might want to look up what cis means! unless i’ve missed something (entirely possible)

the wiki missed it too in that case

https://expanse.fandom.com/wiki/Camina_Drummer_(TV)

I binged the whole series over the past month. No deep thoughts - it was compelling and fun ('cept season 4 dragged a bit). Can't say I would be first in line for space travel after watching the show, looks grueling.

yeah the most persistent message of the show is "space really really sucks ass" and you know what, they're right

Begs the question why so many people end up living on Mars, the Belt, etc. Some combo of "space, the final frontier," Earth becoming miserable with overpopulation and limited jobs, and implication that the Belt starts out as a form of indentured servitude.

mmmmmm you might want to look up what cis means! unless i’ve missed something (entirely possible)

No, you're right; I see "cis" paired with "het" so often that I made the mental leap on my own.

xp I think the closest they get is a character using they/them pronoun

https://expanse.fandom.com/wiki/Liang_Goodfortune_(Books)

OH & probably nice that Expanse does seem to be using a pretty diverse array of ethnicities. Not read teh boooks yet so not sure to what extent that reflects teh source material.

A lot of the characters in the books have names that imply multi-racial identity. Avasarala and her husband are both Indian/South Asian in the books. I think in terms of ethnicity, the show is fairly loyal to the books -- though Naomi's physical description in the book is more white-seeming? I think? Maybe it's just that it mentions her hair being straight ... I don't remember well and please correct me if I'm wrong. I love Dominique Tipper as Naomi.

Nagata is a surname which can be either of Japanese (written: 永田 or 長田) or Fijian origin

I think Bobbie is Polynesian in the books too

There are probably details like Naomi's straight hair in the books that I totally ignored because whenever I see the show/movie first, I can't help but picture the actors in my head while reading

Yeah, that this is a show that just has, eg, an Ojibwe space captain and it's just not even a plot point it just is part of the tapestry of the show, is cool.

It makes sense that it's more or less a "post-racial" future - there's still rampant and violent subjugation and discrimination, of course, it's just based on point of origin and political allegiance

it's kind of funny/weird that Holden is the whitest motherfucker on the show when he has eight parents or whatever

IIRC, when we meet the parents, one of Holden's fathers is of African background.

i don't remember meeting the parents?? when was that

s1 I think?

d'oh

avasarala goes to see them in S1 to learn more about what this Holden dude is up to.

And Avasarala is psychic so she decides Holden is a good egg based on the short time she spends with his mother.

The more parents the gooder the egg iirc

Think s1 on;y met one mom
think meet more of the pod beginning of s4 when they visit earth before heading to ilus, naomi has to facetime with holden and inlaws as still cant handle earth grav

on revisit, s5 might be the most powerfully canadian season

1. a roommate has just started using tinder and the first expanse cast member has turned up, complete with belter face tats. unfortunately they did not match. but efforts continue.
2. acc to the wiki, the members of Drummer's polycule are actually married? were we supposed to infer that at some point? if so we definitely missed it

After reading books 7 and 8 and seeing where they go, I'm bummed they won't get turned into TV (though the authors have vaguely said not to count it out)

Yeah the large time jump between 6 and 7 means they could theoretically look to do it in five, ten years or whatever although the show has not leaned as heavily into all the Duarte stuff

I can't wait that long - they gotta The Crown that shit and recast everyone. Well, keep Wes Chatham tho

Just learned Wes Chatham and one of the two Expanse authors have a podcast: https://tyandthatguy.com/

Holy shit I thought this was me. https://t.co/I5HZ6RoP5N

— Cara Gee (@CaraGeeeee) April 26, 2021

I watched the first three episodes of this based on its seeming popularity around here. Does it get better?

Yes