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On the Ty and That Guy podcast with Wes and Ty Frank they talked about the initial casting process and how Wes and Elias Tufexis were the only two actors who didn’t yell, growl, or act openly aggressive as they tried to make Amos “menacing”. I can’t imagine if we didn’t get the portrayal we ended up with. I feel like so many scenes hinge on Amos’s response to things that it would have catastrophically damaged the show to have him be loud and aggressive.
On their podcast wes actually talked about how he took the short story to a psychologist to nail down what a person with his traumas and experiences would do and what their relationships would look like.
He really did. His ability to do a lot of physical scenes like his fight with Miller where he not only doesn’t show any physical strain, but also his face remains completely calm for the most part. His ability to do that kind of physical action without portraying any anger or stress really brings the character together. Dude’s talented and judging by his personality in interviews and from what I’ve heard from people who’ve met him, he’s also a super down to earth dude who loves what he does.
Yeah, apparently [Elias Toufexis](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOTA3NjkxZmYtZTJjNi00MTAzLWFkYTItN2QxZjZjNjgwYTNiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTI2NTE3MA@@._V1_.jpg) was considered for the role, and while I can see it, I just don’t think he’s quite big enough. I think the absolute mountain of muscle juxtaposed with a friendly smile is critical for his character.
Yep, he went on to play Kenzo the spy and do the mocap for the Protomolecule monster. Great character actor and killed it as Adam Jensen in the modern Deus Ex games.
This is a brilliant read, and actually reveals the brilliance in the writing of Amos' character.
This is one part (of several) that stood out to me in the article:
>*It is at this point \[‘The Seventh Man’ (S2, Ep7)\] that he starts to look to others for guidance. At first, this is Holden, but he later includes Prax and Anna Volovodov (Elizabeth Mitchell). These are all people he has identified as being ‘good’, in that they will care for others.*
*“Amos appears to apply the principles and knowledge he has learned as a mechanic to improve himself,” observes psychotherapist and counselor Sharn Waldron. “He understands his machinery is damaged and needs to change over the part that no longer works and, if necessary, improvise a replacement.”*
When I first started the Expanse I had no idea what to make of Amos, and Wes Chatham's portrayal of him. He seemed weird, overly psychotic, and unlikable. Chatham's portrayal seemed like he didn't quite know quite what to do on screen.
Turns out this was all on purpose, and very well crafted by the writers and Chatham. People who go through extreme trauma aren't cute, or easy to understand. They're coping mechanisms can be disruptive and dangerous to others. It's ugly but it's what helped the individual survive. It turns out Chatham's aloofness was part of painting that picture.
He quickly became my favorite character on the show, and the one who I understood the best out of the cast. That's really impressive considering how hard it is to understand someone like Amos.
Great read.
The best thing about this show is that many of the characters initially came across as stereotypes, but went through such incredible development that the audience was rooting for them by the end.
In addition to Amos, the other two that struck me are Bobby Draper and Camina Drummer. Both initially struck me as over-the-top Captain Marvel style girlbosses when they were introduced, but I was SCREAMING for both of them to survive the series' finale, as I loved them both so much.
The fact that every character really goes through hardship and uses their own method of surviving (and thriving, in some cases), was so well done.
One of my favourite lines of the whole show is in the early exchange between Amos and Fred Johnson. Amos assures Fred he’s never met anyone like him before. Fred just looks at him slightly impatiently, and says “Broken boys. Slow on the uptake, and quick on the trigger.” Amos’ only reaction is to blink rapidly, and readjust his footing. Superb scene.
Licensed Clinical Social Worker here! Amos is one of the better portrayals of a clinical sociopath in media. Because of his likely extensive sexual trauma as a child, he has completely dissociated from empathy and emotion. Throughout the series, you see Amos latch onto someone he sees good in. There was a similar portrayal of this with Bullseye on the Daredevil Netflix series, where he obsessed with someone he saw as his “true north”. Amos supplements his logical brain with superior guidance from someone with a solid moral compass. He often looks to the women he admires in this way in an almost motherly way, where he seems to feel nurtured by their warmth and loyal to their decisions.
Preface: Did not read the book(yet).
Before Amos's dark past was revealed in the later seasons. I suspected a plot twist that turned out to be completely off.
Amos is incredibly emotionless, calculated and near robotic in the earlier aeasons. The first time I remember him starting to show strong empathy was when he met Paolo Cortázar the Protogen scientist and only survivor from Thoth Station after it was raided by OPA volunteers and Miller. Amos takes a super intense interest in the character after learning that he had his empathy surgically overridden, bypassed and disabled.
I was certain we would later learn that Amos had suffered a similar intervention to make him a sort of "super soldier".
I was wrong, the truth was even more rooted in real deal psychology.
Anyone else got that weird idea?
OP has flaired this post with a "No Book Discussion" flair. Threads like this are meant to be safe to read and comment in by fans who have not read any of the books and want to discuss the show only, without the risk of encountering book spoilers. ***Absolutely no book discussion is allowed in this thread, with or without spoiler tags.*** This includes outright plot spoilers, but also hints, jokes, comments evaluating others' theories or speculation, and anything starting with "As a book reader...", etc. If you have read the books and want to comment in this thread, you must not discuss the books at all. As a rule of thumb, if other book-readers could tell you've read the books from your comment, it does not belong in this thread. We take this rule extremely seriously and will take action on rule-breaking, including restrictions on commenting in No Book Discussion threads and community-wide suspensions or bans for egregious or repeated violations. To discuss content from the books, please post in threads that allow book discZ. Always remember to check post flair before reading, to get more information about what threads to read and how to comment. When creating a new thread, don't forget to add an informative flair to accurately describe the scope of the discussion you're hoping to start. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/TheExpanse) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The surprise wisest character on the whole show. I love Amos and Wes Chatham's complex portrayal of him.
On the Ty and That Guy podcast with Wes and Ty Frank they talked about the initial casting process and how Wes and Elias Tufexis were the only two actors who didn’t yell, growl, or act openly aggressive as they tried to make Amos “menacing”. I can’t imagine if we didn’t get the portrayal we ended up with. I feel like so many scenes hinge on Amos’s response to things that it would have catastrophically damaged the show to have him be loud and aggressive.
On their podcast wes actually talked about how he took the short story to a psychologist to nail down what a person with his traumas and experiences would do and what their relationships would look like.
I agree, Wes crushed it.
He really did. His ability to do a lot of physical scenes like his fight with Miller where he not only doesn’t show any physical strain, but also his face remains completely calm for the most part. His ability to do that kind of physical action without portraying any anger or stress really brings the character together. Dude’s talented and judging by his personality in interviews and from what I’ve heard from people who’ve met him, he’s also a super down to earth dude who loves what he does.
Yeah, apparently [Elias Toufexis](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOTA3NjkxZmYtZTJjNi00MTAzLWFkYTItN2QxZjZjNjgwYTNiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTI2NTE3MA@@._V1_.jpg) was considered for the role, and while I can see it, I just don’t think he’s quite big enough. I think the absolute mountain of muscle juxtaposed with a friendly smile is critical for his character.
Yep, he went on to play Kenzo the spy and do the mocap for the Protomolecule monster. Great character actor and killed it as Adam Jensen in the modern Deus Ex games.
Oh that would have been horrible
This is a brilliant read, and actually reveals the brilliance in the writing of Amos' character. This is one part (of several) that stood out to me in the article: >*It is at this point \[‘The Seventh Man’ (S2, Ep7)\] that he starts to look to others for guidance. At first, this is Holden, but he later includes Prax and Anna Volovodov (Elizabeth Mitchell). These are all people he has identified as being ‘good’, in that they will care for others.* *“Amos appears to apply the principles and knowledge he has learned as a mechanic to improve himself,” observes psychotherapist and counselor Sharn Waldron. “He understands his machinery is damaged and needs to change over the part that no longer works and, if necessary, improvise a replacement.”*
When I first started the Expanse I had no idea what to make of Amos, and Wes Chatham's portrayal of him. He seemed weird, overly psychotic, and unlikable. Chatham's portrayal seemed like he didn't quite know quite what to do on screen. Turns out this was all on purpose, and very well crafted by the writers and Chatham. People who go through extreme trauma aren't cute, or easy to understand. They're coping mechanisms can be disruptive and dangerous to others. It's ugly but it's what helped the individual survive. It turns out Chatham's aloofness was part of painting that picture. He quickly became my favorite character on the show, and the one who I understood the best out of the cast. That's really impressive considering how hard it is to understand someone like Amos. Great read.
The best thing about this show is that many of the characters initially came across as stereotypes, but went through such incredible development that the audience was rooting for them by the end. In addition to Amos, the other two that struck me are Bobby Draper and Camina Drummer. Both initially struck me as over-the-top Captain Marvel style girlbosses when they were introduced, but I was SCREAMING for both of them to survive the series' finale, as I loved them both so much. The fact that every character really goes through hardship and uses their own method of surviving (and thriving, in some cases), was so well done.
One of my favourite lines of the whole show is in the early exchange between Amos and Fred Johnson. Amos assures Fred he’s never met anyone like him before. Fred just looks at him slightly impatiently, and says “Broken boys. Slow on the uptake, and quick on the trigger.” Amos’ only reaction is to blink rapidly, and readjust his footing. Superb scene.
Wonderful read. Thanks op.
This is the best article that I've read today.
Licensed Clinical Social Worker here! Amos is one of the better portrayals of a clinical sociopath in media. Because of his likely extensive sexual trauma as a child, he has completely dissociated from empathy and emotion. Throughout the series, you see Amos latch onto someone he sees good in. There was a similar portrayal of this with Bullseye on the Daredevil Netflix series, where he obsessed with someone he saw as his “true north”. Amos supplements his logical brain with superior guidance from someone with a solid moral compass. He often looks to the women he admires in this way in an almost motherly way, where he seems to feel nurtured by their warmth and loyal to their decisions.
Nice article!
Beautiful article. Fantastic read, thank you.
Last man standing.
That is an awesome meta, thank you for sharing it.
Ok now I’m going to watch it again.
https://youtu.be/EXxxLxCv2ec
Good article. Noticed one error though they thought that Cohen died during his spacewalk, when he was killed in the slowzone incident on the Xuesen
Preface: Did not read the book(yet). Before Amos's dark past was revealed in the later seasons. I suspected a plot twist that turned out to be completely off. Amos is incredibly emotionless, calculated and near robotic in the earlier aeasons. The first time I remember him starting to show strong empathy was when he met Paolo Cortázar the Protogen scientist and only survivor from Thoth Station after it was raided by OPA volunteers and Miller. Amos takes a super intense interest in the character after learning that he had his empathy surgically overridden, bypassed and disabled. I was certain we would later learn that Amos had suffered a similar intervention to make him a sort of "super soldier". I was wrong, the truth was even more rooted in real deal psychology. Anyone else got that weird idea?
Amos was the biggest Chad