Fan favorite UN undersecretary Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) is a standout character on The Expanse partially because she’s such a shrewd politician, but also because she’s an older woman who swears like a space sailor. In fact, in the second season of the show, Avasarala drops the f-word a lot more than she did in the first season — and there’s a reason why.
Executive Producer Naren Shankar tells Inverse the reason that Avasarala was more foul-mouthed this season had to do with a change at the Syfy channel. “In the middle of the first season, Syfy changed our content restrictions. So we could salt up her dialogue. It was a little too late to go back and do it all throughout Season 1, but in Season 2 we definitely did. She swears a lot more now.” Shankar isn’t sure if Avasarala’s propensity to swear is why audiences love her so much, but he does assure fans that she will be back for Season 3.
Shankar also revealed why Avasarala’s role was expanded for the show, saying he was “surprised” she wasn’t actually in the first book of the series. Because the character is so involved with solar-system wide events, Shankar explains that her role was expanded because “you have to go to the people who are looking at the solar system, because they’re the ones that are in charge of it.”
The Expanse season 2 is streaming in Syfy. Season 3 is expected in 2018.
