The Expanse: Season 2 scoop and first look photo

It’s time for another Expanse exclusive. Last week we gave you the first look images and intel on fan-favorite character Bobbie Draper, who will be making the leap from page to screen when the Syfy drama returns for season 2 in 2017. And now we have your first season 2 image of Miller (Thomas Jane) and the crew of the Rocinante (Steven Strait, Dominique Tipper, Wes Chatham) as they continue to unravel the mystery of the alien protomolecule unleashed on Eros station.

Not only do have the exclusive first look image above, but we also have some scoop from showrunner Naren Shankar on what to expect in season 2.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: We ended season 1 with the protomolecule starting its consumption of Eros. So are we going to pick up Season 2 right there?

NAREN SHANKAR: Yes, and no would be a way to answer that, I guess. It’s pretty quick after the last scene of season 1, is where we’re starting. We have our guys on the Roci fleeing Eros, and Miller and Holden have been heavily irradiated. So we’re picking up pretty quickly after that. We’re about two-thirds of the way through Leviathan Wakes. So, there’s still plenty of that book to be done, and we are picking up at that point. There’s a lot of big events that happen subsequent to the guys leaving Eros in the book, and that is definitely the first chunk of the second season, so we’re picking up the scene after that.

And it’s really about the understanding and discovery of what has happened on Eros station. There is a massive battle to attack the mysterious place where all of the information from the Eros experiment is being beamed to that the guys kind of caught wind of at the very end of episode 10. So that’s the big first movement for season 2, and if you’ve read the book, you know where these things culminate — the launch of the Nauvoo, the mission to Eros, and everything that happens after that.

So much of book two, Caliban’s War, is about the evolution of Holden and how he changes. Is that something you guys are going to be touching on?

Absolutely, and I think that we really have phrased it more in terms of the evolution of Holden and Naomi. And also, with Amos and Alex, one of the themes that we want in season 2 is this notion that when things are getting bad and people are fighting, it’s very hard to stay on the sideline; it’s very hard to remain neutral and above the fray. Sometimes, you have to take a side. And that’s happening with everybody in our show. And the evolution of Holden that we were talking about that was in the book, it’s really reflected in the series, but it’s reflected in Naomi and Amos and Alex and Avasarala and Errinwright and a lot of these characters in different ways. But that is very much front and center in season 2.

How are you going to handle Miller in season 2? Because obviously, he’s part of a big event at the end of that first book. So what can you say in terms of that?

Miller is a huge part of season 2, and as you’ll find in Caliban’s War, as the series goes forward, these are momentous, momentous episodes for Miller. I think people are going to be pretty wowed and blown away with how intense and how beautiful it is. The mission to Eros and Miller going inside and what he finds with the protomolecule-transformed version of that station — we’re filming it right now, actually — it’s going to be pretty amazing. And everybody is just pulling out all the stops. And I can’t wait to see it onscreen.