Bobbie Draper is played perfectly by Frankie Adams in The Expanse, but the role proved to be the most difficult one for the production team to cast. The Expanse is a TV adaptation of the popular sci-fi book series by James S. A. Corey (a pen name for the two authors, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who also serve as producers on the show). The original concept for the show was conceived by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, who — along with several of the executive producers — felt very strongly that whoever was cast as Bobbie needed to fit her description in the books. As it turned out, this was not an easy endeavor.
The Expanse debuted on Syfy in 2018, but the tv show was cancelled after season 3. The series was picked up by Amazon Prime shortly after, and The Expanse is confirmed to end with season 6. The character Bobbie Draper first appeared in season 2, and she has been a strong presence on the show ever since, offering a strong female presence and surprising comedic charm.
The role of Bobbie Draper could have easily gone to another, less fitting, actor. According to an interview with IndieWire, the production team struggled to find someone to play Bobbie in The Expanse season 2. Not only is Bobbie a fan-favorite character, but the book Caliban's War presents a very specific description of her appearance and demeanor, emphasizing the unusual nature of her stature and specifying her ethnicity:
Bobbie was not the right shape to fit into one of the standard suits, and the Marines made her jump through a series of flaming hoops every time she requisitioned a new custom one. At a bit over two meters tall, she was only slightly above average height for a Martian male, but thanks in part to her Polynesian ancestry, she weighed in at over a hundred kilos at one g. None of it was fat, but her muscles seemed to get bigger every time she even walked through a weight room. As a marine, she trained all the time.
From the beginning, the production team felt it was important to find a Polynesian actor for the role. The Expanse ultimately found Frankie Adams through their New Zealand-based casting director Liz Mullane. Adams was a relative newcomer to the industry with only a few credits to her name — none of which were similar to this role. However, Adams offered qualities the team had struggled to find in other actresses. A New Zealand-born actor of Samoan heritage, and standing at 1.8 meters tall, Adams fit the physical description of Bobbie in the books. What's more, she had the acting chops necessary the convey Bobbie's inner-conflict as she's torn between a sense of duty and morality, which increasingly became a core part of the character's arc as the show went on.
Fans of the books series are largely in agreement that Frankie Adams was cast well for The Expanse, as she is uniquely suited for Bobbie Draper. Not only is Adams tall of and built like a marine (accentuated by the actress working out for the role, according to the IndieWire article), but the actor also had real-life experience as a boxer prior to getting cast. Her background in boxing no doubt leant an air of authenticity to her portrayal of the tough combatant Bobbie in The Expanse — and is further evidence that she was the perfect person for the role.
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