Syfy Greenlights Space Opera Series The Expanse

Syfy Channel is going back to outer space, giving a straight-to-series order to The Expanse — a new series based on the best-selling novels by James S.A. Corey (the pen name of writers Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck).

Described as a classic space opera, The Expanse is set two centuries into the future and “follows the case of a missing young woman who brings a hardened detective and a rogue ship’s captain together in a race across the solar system to expose the greatest conspiracy in human history.”

Syfy has given the show a 10-episode order.

Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (Children of Men, Iron Man) will write and executive produce. Sean Daniel and Jason Brown are also on the executive producers list, along with Alcon Television executives Andrew Kosove, Broderick Johnson, and Sharon Hall.

Original novelists Abraham and Franck will also be producers.

“The Expanse is one of the most special pieces of material we’ve ever encountered and it has been our dream to bring it to life since the moment we read it,” Brown and Daniel said. “We couldn’t be more excited to be doing it with this team of all-stars — Mark, Hawk, and our partners at Alcon and Syfy.”

“The Expanse is epic in scale and scope and promises to be Syfy’s most ambitious series to date,” Syfy president Dave Howe said. “Bringing this coveted book franchise to television with our partners at Alcon and the Sean Daniel Co. is a giant win for Syfy, reinforcing our overall strategy to produce bold, provocative and compelling sci-fi fantasy stories.”

The book series includes the novels Leviathan Wakes, Caliban’s War, and Abaddon’s Gate — the first of which was nominated for both Hugo and Locus Awards in 2012. The series has been endorsed by A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin, and is published in 17 countries.

Alcon Television is the new TV arm of Alcon Entertainment, which has film credits including The Blind Side, Insomnia, and The Book of Eli.

Syfy is on a hot streak in commissioning new scripted science fiction and fantasy projects, including space-based mini-series Ascension, TV adaptations of Dominion (premieres this June) and 12 Monkeys (January), zombie drama Z Nation (late 2014), and mythology series Olympus.

Syfy’s returning series includes Defiance (June), Helix (January), Haven (Fall), and Canadian imports Lost Girl, Bitten, and Continuum. Warehouse 13 also wraps up with its shortened, final season starting this month.