The Expanse Actor Frankie Adams Talks About Bobbie's Most Memorable Season 6 Scenes [Interview]
"The Expanse" had their series finale last week, and packed a whole lot into the last episode, including an amazing action sequence with Bobbie Draper (Frankie Adams), Amos Burton (Wes Chatham), and some rail guns.
/Film had the chance to talk with Adams about that intense sequence as well as about other aspects of the season (including what Bobbie did after her heart-to-heart with Amos on Ceres) and the show as a whole.
Read on for that conversation, though be warned that spoilers for the last season of "The Expanse" lie ahead!
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
"It was a lot of sweat and a lot of sore muscles."
In the last episode of "The Expanse," you have an intense scene where Bobbie goes against the rail guns. What was it like to shoot that?
It was long and intense. We did it over three days because we had to shoot it per set, so underneath and on the ramp and stuff, but it was very organized. Breck Eisner [director of the episode] is extremely detail-oriented so he had storyboarded it. He had meetings with Wes and I, and he talked about even what arm I was going to shoot with. Everything was very detailed, but it was a lot of sweat and a lot of sore muscles. Wes and I were like, "Make sure you do your yoga before we do these." And oh boy, did we need it by the end of it, we slept very good after that.
How much do you sweat in those suits? I can't imagine, and you have it worse than anyone, right? Because you have the heavy duty Martian armor?
We have these cooling disks that we put on underneath that they can plug us into water. And those were our lifelines that day because we were just like ... all the other people that were in those scenes were stunt people and even they were just like, "Holy moly, this is hard work!" But it was so worth it because it looked epic when it came out.
"We would dance and hug when they called cut."
Another big thing for Bobbie throughout the series is her relationship with Avasarala [played by Shohreh Aghdashloo]. In season 6 you have a great scene where Bobbie tells Avasarala off a bit.
That was a big.
Yeah, I interviewed Shohreh and she said that was one of her most memorable scenes of the season, just shooting that with you. What it was like from your end?
I think in the beginning, their relationship was reversed. Avasarala was constantly the one telling her what she really thought and Bobbie was kind of just like, "Yes ma'am. Of course." And then I think because they get so comfortable in their relationship and they've become quite good friends by the end, I think any good friend would tell their mates to sort it out. But it was really satisfying for me to yell at her. And then we would dance and hug when they called cut. But yeah, I felt like that was a really epic, grown-up honest moment for Bobbie that I really enjoyed playing.
"If they were to actually sleep together, they would just do it on Roci."
As Bobbie, you obviously interact with a lot with the rest of the core cast and besides Avasarala. Was there any other character you enjoyed acting against as Bobbie?
Oh my God. Yes, with Amos. It was so fun. That was so much fun. I was not expecting that relationship to kind of become a thing all of a sudden, but I was so happy about it. I felt like we really vibed off each other. We had great chemistry, we're good friends in real life and they were just sort of buddies and they were always giving each other s*** and I really enjoyed how that relationship played out.
Nice. And you two had the X-Ray short together too.
Yeah, we did. That was our last day shooting, both of our last days. We had so much fun, we just fought for eight hours. It was great.
It's definitely a fun short. And it aired before the episode where you have that big heart-to-heart with Amos on Ceres. And then there's this question of does Bobbie go with Amos to the brothel? I actually asked Wes and [showrunner Naren Shankar] this and I would love to hear your answer — do you think she went with him?
I think she went. I don't know if she went with him or if she went with him, but I do think she got up and followed him. I think they're friends, I just don't know if they sometimes hang out at nighttime together as friends, but in general I think they're just mates. I don't know. Yeah. That was always the question for everyone. We don't know. I think that she went. I don't know, because also I think that if they were to actually sleep together, they would just do it on Roci.
That's true. That's more convenient.
Yeah, their rooms are right next door to each other.
"I've done a lot in that armor."
And Bobbie has changed a lot over the course of the series. How do you think she's different from the series finale versus the first time we see her on the show?
I think she's matured and learned a lot in general. I think in the beginning, she's blindly fighting for something that isn't really worth her time. And then it's a constant search for belonging — it was a journey of identity for Bobbie for a long time. And I think you see very clearly that she's at peace and content with where she ended up, and has found this sweet little dysfunctional family that she feels a part of and there's something really sweet about that. And also, I just think that she's grown up in general and is a little more playful and considered in a way that she probably wasn't in the beginning.
And I know for Bobbie in particular, you got a lot of the action scenes in the show, just based on Bobbie being a Marine and all that. Over the course of series, what do you think was the most challenging or the most memorable scene you had to shoot?
All the armor scenes were really physically challenging. In that last battle sequence, there's that move where it's like a Matrix move where I'm getting shot and I'm getting flung backwards mid-air. I did all of that on wires and I didn't think it was possible, honestly. Because also the armor doesn't really move in that way so it didn't feel like I could do it. That felt like such an achievement, because I've done a lot in that armor, but that was certainly something that seemed really impossible on the day.
"I hope that people watch it for years to come."
I imagine things don't always go right in those scenes when shooting. Any fun moments or bloopers that stick out in your mind?
I don't know if you've seen any of the blooper reels, but it's mostly me. Wes always makes me laugh. In the X-Ray, Wes accidentally actually threw me on the ground in one of the times. We had discussed how I was going to land and because he's so strong he threw me way too high and I was like, "Okay and we're going down, and we're going down and now I'm on the ground." And he was so upset, but it was fine. I got through it, but yeah, there's always happy accidents like that when everyone gets a bit excited.
Since the series is now over, at least in this form, what do you hope fans walk away from having watched the finale?
I hope we did the story justice. I know that there are a lot of book fans that probably have been watching very closely and I hope that they know how much we appreciate their support. We were canceled for a while there, so I just hope that they feel like we did it — we ended it in a way that was satisfying as someone who was watching it as a viewer. Because that's how we felt making it. We were like, okay, this feels like a nice way to wrap it up in a pretty little bow and hope that people are okay with it. But yeah. And I hope that people watch it for years to come and it becomes a cult classic.
All six seasons of "The Expanse" are now available on Prime Video.