The Expanse author shoots down prospect of a musical episode

Of all the shows currently on TV, Amazon’s The Expanse — a slow-burning tale sci-fi story rife with factional conflict and political maneuvering — is among the last I’d expect to have a musical episode, of the kind we’ve seen on shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Magicians, Riverdale, Psych, The Flash…man, a lot of shows eventually do one of these, don’t they?

Sorry, got side-tracked. ANYWAY, some fans were calling for a musical episode anyway after cast member Cas Anvar — who plays the Martian pilot of the Rocinante, Alex Kamal — gave them a special treat the other day. You see, back after The Expanse was cancelled by SyFy but before it was picked up by Amazon, Anvar promised fans that, if the show were revived, he would sing a cowboy song upside down. It’s a weirdly specific promise, sure, but it fits with the character, who spends a lot of time in zero-g and who grew up in the rustic Mariner Valley on Mars.

Anyway, the show did get revived, and Anvar finally made good on his promise. Watch below:

That’ll be “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” by Toby Keith. Claps all around.

So that’s how the calls for a musical episode got started. Unfortunately, The Expanse author James S.A. Corey — who’s actually a pen name used by collaborators Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck — was there to shoot the idea down, much to the chagrin of the show’s writing staff:

If The Expanse were to have a musical episode, it would have to be an unplugged affair, maybe with the crew of the Rocinante just jamming in their downtime. Yeah, it probably wouldn’t work…probably.

For the record, I think most musical episodes on TV — especially those have their cast members cover songs — are pretty meh, but some have pulled it off, especially shorter comedies. The Community musical episode is great, as is “The Nightman Cometh” from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode. But the best will always by the Buffy episode Once More, With Feeling, which ingeniously folded the musical numbers into the plot, and produced some real bangers besides.

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h/t Newsweek