Syfy's New Show The Expanse Is Available For Free, Watch It Here

Syfy’s been in need of a good space opera since Battlestar Galactica went off of the air. And while the network nearly fooled us with Ascension, that miniseries didn’t turn into a long-term drama, leaving us to wait for this winter’s big premiere of The Expanse, a sci fi mystery drama that has promised fans space sex, dramatic tension, a mystery and more. This week, the network released the first episode of the series digitally. You can catch the episode, below.

THE EXPANSE Full Episode | The Search Begins from "Dulcinea"The Expanse digital premiere is here. WATCH NOW.Posted by The Expanse on Sunday, November 22, 2015

Early in the episode, we learn there are tensions in the solar system as those who live on Earth, those who live on Mars and those who live in “the belt” are constantly on the brink of a large fight for survival. Political tensions are high early in the episode, but nothing’s as terrifying as the opening scene, which features a young woman dealing with horror on a space ship after escaping a room she’s been locked into.

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Without getting too much into what happens in the premiere, the general premise of The Expanse will follow Thomas Jane as Detective Miller, a worker on Ceres who is tasked with investigating the disappearance of a young woman named Julie Mao. His partner Dmitri Havelock is played by Jay Hernandez. While Miller doesn’t seem too concerned about taking on the case at first, he soon meets ice freighter XO Jim Holden (Steven Strait), who helps him come to the realization that the missing woman is directly related to a giant conspiracy. If that’s not enough to want to give the pilot a watch, I don’t know what might be.

The Expanse doesn’t technically premiere on Syfy until December 14, but the network is trying to garner additional interest by releasing the full pilot online early. It’s actually great for fans who have been keeping tabs on this project since it was first announced well over a year ago. We actually got footage for the series last January, so it’s been a long, hard wait for this pilot to premiere. While it’s a little difficult to keep track of all of the characters in the first episode, overall the episode still gives us hope for the future of sci fi over at Syfy.

Catch The Expanse now, or when it officially hits the schedule on December 14 at 10 p.m. ET. In addition, here’s what’s coming at midseason.

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.