Syfy Expands on 'The Expanse'

Syfy said it is ordered a 13-episode second season of The Expanse, the space drama that has performed well both in on-demand pre-releases and on Syfy's schedule. The new episodes from Alcon Television Group are expected to be on the NBCUniversal network in early 2017. Season one will be halfway through its 10 episodes with the Tuesday, Jan. 5 (10 p.m.) rendition (here's a link to the episode trailer).

Some numbers via Syfy: 4.5 million viewers sampled the first episode on Syfy.com, on demand and digital outlets before the linear premiere on Dec. 14, and an average of 1.6 million P2+ linear viewers have watched the first three episodes, on a live plus three day basis. (Here's a link to the MCN review.)

"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. We can’t wait to see where the story takes us in season two,” Syfy president Dave Howe said in a release.

Syfy's description of the series: "Set 200 years in the future, The Expanse follows the case of a missing young woman that brings a hardened detective (Thomas Jane) and a rogue ship’s captain (Steven Strait) together in a race across the solar system that will expose the greatest conspiracy in human history." The series is based on a novel series by James S. A. Corey (pen names for Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck).

Kent Gibbons

Kent has been a journalist, writer and editor at Multichannel News since 1994 and with Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He is a good point of contact for anything editorial at the publications and for Nexttv.com. Before joining Multichannel News he had been a newspaper reporter with publications including The Washington Times, The Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) Journal and North County News.