Steven Strait has flown a lot of miles since Sky High. Most recently to the edges of the solar system with the crew of the Rocinante and the ghost of Joe Miller on Amazon’s The Expanse. Saved from cancellation in large part due to the efforts of Screaming Firehawks everywhere (yes, that is the name of the fandom, and yes, it’s the coolest name ever, and yes, I am a member), the show will launch its first season on the streaming service (Season 4 in the chronology) on December 13th, and the cast and crew are already at work on Season 5. What does the Rocinante‘s captain have to say about all of this?

Glad you asked. Keep reading.

Roarbots: Steven, I took a look at your bio, and it mentioned that you weren’t initially completely sold on acting. Do you remember what changed your mind?

Steven Strait: I don’t know about being sold on it. I started very young… at 12 or 13 years old. I was lucky in that I grew up in a neighborhood in New York City that was very creative, and I happened to grow up around one of the best acting conservatories in the country. From exposure through the neighborhood, I found myself at Stella Adler Conservatory and really discovering acting there.

I started working before high school, and it wasn’t that I wasn’t sold on acting – it was that early on, it was difficult for me to start that journey because I was very introverted and reserved and speaking in front of groups of people was not comfortable for me. But through acting school and having those experiences, I was fortunate to have great teachers who showed me how to put that aside and focus on this art form I felt very passionate about from a very early age – to really pursue that. I guess if there was any hurdle in the beginning, it was probably there.

RB: I’ve interviewed Cas and Dominique. They and Wes are all pretty active on social media and go to a lot of cons. You’ve just started to go this year. What allowed you to make that transition to going to these big gatherings where a lot of people want to ask you a lot of questions?

SS: To be honest with you, the whole process of the show being saved and revived by our fans was a really pivotal moment for me in terms of how moving it was to see our viewership and fan base reflect their passion to such an extent.

We were given the privilege of being able to continue this story with the group of people we set out to make it with, and I wanted to meet them. Like you said, I’m not on social media so to be able to go and meet people face to face and shake their hands and say thank you is something that’s very important to me and has been very gratifying.

I adore our fan base, and we have this incredibly passionate and intelligent and thoughtful viewership and to be able to meet them in person has been a real joy for me and its’s something that’s always felt really warm and gratifying. It’s nice to be able to see the faces of the people who saved our show that we care so much about.

RB: What drew you to The Expanse as a project?

SS: I was a fan of the books before I knew it was being adapted. I was drawn to the writing, obviously, because those novels were, and are, spectacularly well written. And then when I saw it was being adapted, and I was approached by Alcon about it and seeing the people involved, it had this enormous pedigree of talent, not just within the writer group but also within the executives who were putting it together and the cast they were talking to at that time.

I remember thinking when I heard that just how ambitious taking on a story like The Expanse was going to be. It was hard for me to fathom the scope of something as massive as The Expanse on television. But it was a story that was, and continues to be, deeply important.

When science fiction is at its most effective is when it’s really using allegory to tackle present issues in a very comprehensive way, and the books certainly did that and I think we do that on the show in a very thoughtful manner. Especially today when things are so divisive, to be able to tackle sociopolitical issues, issues of identity, all different kinds of stuff in a way that could possibly spark conversation out there that wouldn’t be had otherwise feels important.

It feels like the work in and of itself has a deeper importance for the kind of empathy we’re trying to put out there for people and for these stories, to show what these topics really mean with a human face.

RB: Holden was an established character before the show started but obviously, you bring parts of yourself to the role. What is the biggest part of yourself you’ve infused into Holden?

SS: Other than my love for coffee? I would say this: Something that I really do enjoy and love about playing Holden is that there’s an evolution of his character through humility. He often doesn’t live up to his own expectations, but he grows through them and I would like to think that I share that quality of learning through humility.

Another quality I really do adore about Holden is that there’s nothing macho about him. He’s a thoughtful guy; he’s in way over his head early on, but he evolves through his experiences to find his feet as a leader. I would like to think I bring some of the sensitivity I have as a man to the role and that allows Holden to be more empathetic.

RB: You guys seem like you have a lot of fun together on and off set. You post pictures (we loved the pink hard hats, that was fantastic). Is that a natural dynamic, or is it something you worked on to build?

SS: It is a natural dynamic and it’s also something we’ve worked on. In many ways, the trajectory of the Roci crew, and the whole cast as well, this whole group of people who didn’t really know each other starting on this crazy adventure, reflected kind of where we were as actors coming into the project. None of us had really known each other before and we all gravitated toward each other not just because of the work demands. We are very different people but are drawn together by, I think, a very common set of values.

I’m not sure if they told you but since the first episode of Season 1, we’ve taken the majority of our weekends to rehearse the episodes with the writer and the director involved as well. I think the group commitment to the project – the feeling that we’re building something together – kind of adds on to the natural affinity we all had in terms of our personalities, so I would say a combination of both.

I think it is a natural affinity of being around thoughtful, good people but also because there’s a lot of pride in what we make together and as we continued through all of these years, that bond has only grown tighter. I think that’s reflected in a very organic way in the storyline of the Roci crew who also evolves closer and closer together because of their endeavors. It played out in a really metaphysical way, which is kind of cool.

RB: Are the personalities we see on the show similar to people’s actual roles in the group? Does anyone really deviate from the personality we see on the show? I’d imagine that Wes doesn’t go around beating people up all the time…

SS: Exactly. I think the most obvious example is Wes who is not Amos. He is a hilarious, warm man. I think we all bring bits of ourselves to these characters, but I will say no one is exactly who they are within the base structure of the Roci crew.

I think one thing that is similar in the group dynamic is that it has this open, collaborative, almost democratic structure to it where everybody is heard and there’s a sense of ownership to the role each person is there to work on and portray. We do share that, I think, as actors working on the show just as the Roci crew has that as part of their quest to understand the protomolecule, what destroyed the protomolecule builders, and the solution to the danger that comes with all of that.

The least like the character is Wes. The most common thing we have in the group is how each of us has that sense of ownership.

RB: Steven, your bio says you’re a musician. Dominique is a singer, and when we interviewed her we pulled up some of her old videos on YouTube. When are you going to sing together on the show?

SS: (laughs) It would be a very interesting departure for the Roci crew to give it all up. I don’t know. Maybe in some kind of alternate universe, the protomolecule turns us into some kind of musical. I don’t see that happening, but you never know. One never knows. It would be hilarious though. [Dominique’s] got a wonderful voice.

Season 4 of The Expanse will be available for streaming on Amazon Prime on December 13, 2019. Clear your schedules. Trust me.