Syfy Channel Renews 'The Expanse' for a More Expansive Second Season
The Syfy channel's sweeping space adventure "The Expanse" has been renewed for a second season, set to air early in 2017.
The television program is based on a series of books by James S. A. Corey (a pseudonym for authors Dan Abraham and Ty Franck, who we interviewed here and here about the books and about working on the show). The first season will have 10 episodes — five have aired already — but 13 have been ordered for the second season.
The story is set 200 years in the future and follows characters from Earth, Mars and the asteroid belt embroiled in a solar-system-wide mystery. Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, screenwriters from "Children of Men" (2006) and "Iron Man" (2008) are showrunners and writers on the series, and the book authors are involved in writing the show as well.
"'The Expanse' is firing on all cylinders creatively, building a passionate fan base among viewers and critics alike, and delivering on Syfy's promise of smart, provocative science fiction entertainment," Dave Howe, Syfy's president, said in a statement. "We can't wait to see where the story takes us in Season 2."
When the first episode was released before the TV premiere, 4.5 million viewers watched it digitally, and an average of 1.6 million have watched each of the first three episodes as they aired, Syfy officials said.
Episode 6 of "The Expanse" will air tonight (Jan. 12) at 10 p.m. EST.
Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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Sarah Lewin started writing for Space.com in June of 2015 as a Staff Writer and became Associate Editor in 2019 . Her work has been featured by Scientific American, IEEE Spectrum, Quanta Magazine, Wired, The Scientist, Science Friday and WGBH's Inside NOVA. Sarah has an MA from NYU's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program and an AB in mathematics from Brown University. When not writing, reading or thinking about space, Sarah enjoys musical theatre and mathematical papercraft. She is currently Assistant News Editor at Scientific American. You can follow her on Twitter @SarahExplains.