Everything you’ve heard is true: Syfy’s The Expanse is breathtaking, limit-pushing, legend-making television.  And if you want to know why, just grab your favorite snacks, set the phone to mute, get comfy and binge the hell out of it — for the first time, or again! — on Hulu, Amazon Prime or Syfy.com.

Although we were only given 10 episodes for a first season last winter, it’s definitely a case of quality over quantity. With massive sets (no, really, the sets are huge), film-level CG and cinematography, and a story so taut that even the most ardent fans of the books need refreshers on the intricate plot tendrils and hidden clues in each episode, you need to pause and take a breath between seasons. A deep, slow breath to let your heart rate subside.

And then there’s this: The series affects you on 2 levels. First are the books by James SA Corey that rightly stand on their own in the annals of epic space opera. Authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (aka Corey) pulled a mind-meld to bring cohesive, intelligent, character and action driven science fiction into existence in a bespoke universe that Heinlein and Clarke would be proud of. Next you have the television series, which Syfy spared no expense to produce. No cheesy sets here; there’s gritty and raw Ceres station, home of Detective Joe Miller; beloved, beautiful, struggling Earth, where the formidable and passionate Chrisjen Avasarala fights for the UN and for keeping the birthplace of humanity in one piece; and the myriad ships of the space between – the Rocinante, de facto home of Captain Jim Holden and his loyal, if reluctant team, and the Canterbury (Remember the Cant!) whose demise starts the dominoes tipping of all things magnificent and terrifying that come ahead.

We had the honest pleasure of sitting down with some of the cast and producers of The Expanse at this year’s SDCC to see what they have to say about the story so far and where things are headed in season 2.  We met with Thomas Jane (“Joe Miller”), Cas Anvar (“Alex Kamal”), Wes Chatham (“Amos Burton”), Shohreh Aghdashloo (“Chrisjen Avasarala”), Mark Fergus (Executive Producer), and Naren Shankar (Executive Producer).

We recommend you add this to your binge watching.