A few closing thoughts on Season 1 of The Expanse

Well, the first season finale aired last night, and now we have that illusion of a lull while the output of our labor coasts for a while and we knock our brains out doing the next season and the next novel and the next novella.

But still, it seemed like a good time for a few closing thoughts.

It’s an honor and a pleasure to work on the show.  The team on this was astounding, and the education was intense.  Alcon’s support and confidence through all this was invaluable.  Visual media and the storytelling that goes on there is fascinating and complex.  The management of a human mechanism with this many moving parts and one single purpose was like watching a brain from the inside.  The actors who’ve brought our characters (and a few extra besides) onto the screen were amazing and wonderful.  Even if this were the end of the project, I’d have nothing to complain about.

But it’s not the end of the project.

I owe a debt of gratitude to the fans and viewers who came to play, watched the show and talked about it with their friends and on social media.  That conversation is part of our zeitgeist, and we wouldn’t have managed what we’ve done so far without you.

And in that spirit, the critics and reviewers, too.  Even the ones who didn’t like it.  Having The Expanse also be part of conversations about translations between media, diversity, futurism, basic science, shifting paradigms of television distribution, and the history of filmed SF may be the most gratifying thing about this.

In the gap between the first season and the second, I hope the show finds even more of its audience.  For one thing, I think it rewatches/binges really well. I know I’m watching the whole damned thing this weekend.

And still, that said…

In the rollout of the show, I’ve been very active on social media.  Now that we’ve put on our play and taken our bows, I’m going to have to step back from the world a little and focus on some stuff that needs focusing on.  Someone will still have eyes on the accounts, and if something’s critical it’ll filter back to me.  Any big news, I’ll hop on and let y’all in on it.

Play safe.

 

[ED: A previous version credited Alcon with putting the team together, but Jason Brown of the Sean Daniel Company rightly pointed out that the core team — Mark, Hawk, and the books themselves — were facilitated by others even before Alcon signed on to back us all.  So a special thanks and acknowledgment to Jason Brown, the incomparable Sean Daniel, and Ben Cook]

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