Science fiction met space fact this week in the Seattle area when the cast of “The Expanse,” the science-fiction jewel in Amazon’s streaming-video crown, got a look at Blue Origin’s spaceship.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is the common denominator in the meetup: He personally engineered the sci-fi series’ shift from SyFy to Prime Video, and announced it onstage at a space conference last May while I was sitting beside him. Bezos is also the founder of Blue Origin, the space venture that is testing its New Shepard suborbital spaceship and gearing up to build its orbital-class New Glenn rocket.
During last May’s sit-down with Bezos, I joked that cast of “The Expanse” might want to take a ride on New Shepard, just to get some real-life experience behind their portrayal of space travel. And Bezos played along.
“We talked about whether we should just film on location,” he said at the time. “That might drive the budget up a bit.”
As it turned out, the show’s cast members, writers and executives did get a chance to sit inside a mockup of the New Shepard crew capsule during their Seattle visit, presumably at Blue Origin’s headquarters in Kent, Wash. They also showed up at a Fishbowl event at Amazon headquarters. The authors of the “Expanse” book series were even able to wedge in an appearance at Seattle’s University Book Store last night for the release of their latest installment, “Tiamat’s Wrath.”
Here’s a roundup of tweets from the “Expanse” expedition to Seattle:
The Brat Pack has Arrived ✈️ #TheExpanse #TheWomenOfTheExpanse #AmazonHeadquarters pic.twitter.com/ssOqr0hmbM
— Shohreh Aghdashloo (@SAghdashloo) March 28, 2019
#TheExpanse crew has landed in Seattle! ? Stay tuned for a special giveaway to celebrate… pic.twitter.com/v4oNScoWFE
— The Expanse (@ExpanseOnPrime) March 28, 2019
Headed to @AmazonStudios with the gang. #TheExpanse pic.twitter.com/KMtLcrkitW
— Shohreh Aghdashloo (@SAghdashloo) March 28, 2019
Word of advice for hanging with @saghdashloo ☕️ ? ?
We’re at @amazonstudios about to take the stage with:@narenshankar @Mi55Tipper @CaraGeeeee @ffrankieadams @AbrahamHanover @JamesSACorey pic.twitter.com/e4Ei5sPNp7
— Cas Anvar (@Casanvar) March 28, 2019
#TheExpanse crew goes into the Fishbowl! Thank you @AmazonStudios @PrimeVideo for this amazing experience! We definitely felt the love! @ExpanseOnPrime pic.twitter.com/7nZ5DhI71H
— Ben Roberts (@broberts76) March 28, 2019
Fishbowl with the authors, cast, and creator of The Expanse https://t.co/hCJqPr06IA
— Amazon News (@amazonnews) March 28, 2019
#TheExpanse, @AmazonStudios @blueorigin @ExpanseOnPrime family dinner last night! Bye Seattle and thanks to team @PrimeVideo for having us! pic.twitter.com/ElwzGOYCGQ
— Ben Roberts (@broberts76) March 29, 2019
The first three seasons of “The Expanse” are available for streaming on Prime Video, and Season 4 is expected to premiere later this year.
