Dulcinea (The Expanse)
The episode was written by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby and directed by Terry McDonough, and is based on the first chapters of James S. A. Corey's novel Leviathan Wakes, the first novel in The Expanse novel series.
Detective Joe Miller (Thomas Jane) is assigned to search for a missing girl in the asteroid belt; executive officer Jim Holden (Steven Strait) of the spaceship Canterbury faces a moral dilemma when he responds to a distress signal in the outer realm near Saturn; UN politician Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) interrogates a potential terrorist who may have crucial information.
For decades, tension has been rising between Earth, Mars, and the Belt, which increases the imminent possibility of a system-wide civil war, which will be one of the major plot points in the series.
Miller later has a change of heart and decides to end his collaboration with Vargas, the sleazy owner of a sweatshop, whose child workers often develop sickness due to poor air filtration.
Meanwhile, the Canterbury, a space freighter en route to Ceres Station escorting a shipment of ice, receives a distress signal which most of its crew disregard, considering that any time wasted on anything other than their jobs would result in a late arrival and the loss of their on-time work bonuses.
Jim Holden, the executive officer of the Canterbury, is uncomfortable with the majority decision and secretly logs the message with HQ, which means the ship is now obliged to investigate the signal.
Holden is ordered to investigate and takes the Canterbury's shuttle, the Knight, along with some members of the crew: chief engineer Naomi Nagata, mechanic Amos Burton, pilot Alex Kamal, and med-tech officer Shed Garvey.
[3] The script for the pilot episode was developed by Academy Award-nominated screenwriting duo Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, directed by British TV director Terry McDonough, and it was produced by Alcon Television Group.
Bringing this coveted book franchise to television with our partners at Alcon and the Sean Daniel Company is a giant win for Syfy, reinforcing our overall strategy to produce bold, provocative and compelling sci-fi fantasy stories.
Lauren Davis, who saw the early pilot screening at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2015, months prior to its release on Syfy, wrote on io9 that she was "blown away" by the first episode, and adored its "incredible sense of scale" and its "deeply thought out future world that reflects on our present one, with high production values and characters who speak and act like real people.
[citation needed] Michael Ahr of Den of Geek rated the pilot episode a 4.5 out of 5, stating that thanks to the premiere, The Expanse is "a force to be reckoned with", and despite his minor suggestions regarding the complexity of the world being confusing to some viewers, said, "...the journey forward should offer ample opportunity to hungrily gather up the tantalizing nuances of the show along the way."
