The Expanse: How Wes Chatham Developed His Tough & Traumatized Character by Cynthia Vinney

The Expanse: How Wes Chatham Developed His Tough & Traumatized Character –

WARNING: The following article includes spoilers for The Expanse Season 4, now streaming on Amazon Prime.

When the character of Amos was first introduced on The Expanse, he seemed like nothing more than a dangerous thug. Yet, as the show continued, it became increasingly clear that behind that rough exterior, there was a lot more going on. While we’ve only gotten glimpses of his backstory so far, season after season, Wes Chatham, the actor behind the character, has played Amos with his challenging backstory in mind.

In a recent visit to The Expanse’s set in Toronto, Chatham explained how he approaches playing Amos, how the character has evolved since Season 1 and how his carefully controlled defenses start to break down during Season 4.

Even though they haven’t been detailed onscreen yet, Amos’ difficult formative years are the key to Chatham’s portrayal of the character. “Every season we gear up, there’s a book called The Churn.” he explained. “It’s a novella and it’s just specifically on Amos’ character. And I read that and that’s kind of the foundation I’ve built off of: if this happened to me [how] would it manifest, what would this look [like] into the future?”

In fact, Chatham was so invested in understanding the circumstances that led to his character being the way he is that he consulted with a therapist so he could delve into Amos’ trauma further. “So you have The Churn, you understand what he went through when he was growing up. I wanted to give it [to] somebody… that is a professional and had a lot of experience and a lot of case studies of trauma and how trauma manifests,” Chatham shared. “And so I give The Churn to the psychologist and then I sit and speak with her as if I have those circumstances.

“And we all have those things that happen in our lives to lesser or more degree, so you can tap into it if you’re just honest with yourself. And so sitting down with the psychologist and saying, ‘What… would this look like? What kind of behavior would this look like? And if [Amos is] treating this person this way and if Naomi is this important to [him] why is this here? What is this thing?’”

Chatham went even deeper into his character by exploring case studies of trauma and applying that to his acting choices. “…there’s a book called The Body Keeps the Score, and it’s just a book on trauma and how trauma manifests in people’s lives,” he noted. “And you read this book and the great thing about this book is there’s case study after case study after case study and you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’ And you start to see these common things of people that have went through similar situations and how they have similar defense mechanisms and how that manifests. And then you tie that all into the choices of what you make [as the character].”

All that work has paid off for Chatham in the fan response to Amos. He’s found that fans understand and respond to the turmoil lying beneath his character’s cool exterior. “What I find, which is really interesting, is I thought [Amos’ interior struggles] would be very subtle and underneath,” Chatham revealed, “but there’s people that come up to me all the time…. And they know exactly what’s going on, even though Amos’ backstory isn’t known, they know exactly what happened… And you realize they have personal experience and it’s pretty amazing how connected and receptive they are to the character and the story.”

To Chatham, the fan response to his character is evidence of just how much people have in common. “I think one of the things is in life we all do [what Amos does]…,” Chatham noted. “We have deep fears, we have deep sensitivities, we have deep vulnerabilities, we have things that happened to us in the past that we’re like, ‘This will never fucking happen to me again.’ And we start to build a part of our ego or personality around protecting these things.

“And every now and then in life that thing is yanked away and all of the sudden you’re an open nerve, you’re an open wound, whatever that thing is. And so what we’ve seen from Amos so far is that defense, that ego, that personality he created to protect how damaged he is underneath it all. And how he has kind of pulled the plug on his emotional circuitry because he can’t deal with it. And so I think all of us to some degree or another have those defense mechanisms or those things in place and we create this thing: this is who we are and this is where our value is and this is what our identity is, but it’s not truly who you are. It’s the thing that you project to the world.”

Despite, Amos’ carefully controlled facade, Chatham believes the character has evolved over time as his relationships with his fellow crew members on the Rocinante have deepened. “I think he has changed. From who Amos was from the beginning and now seeing his relationship with the crew and with Holden and his relationship with Naomi, his relationship with Naomi has now expanded with the Roci crew. It is now that is his family….”

“He’s not as concerned with all this macro, with politics and what’s going on with the world and everything,” Chatham continued. “He feels like, ‘Guys, let’s just do our thing over here and survive. Let them kill each other and figure that out.’ But Holden’s always dragging us into this. And so I’m just there because of the love of the family around me and the connection that I have. That wasn’t there. That was built, that was earned with the relationships that we developed over time. And so I think Amos has the most tightly controlled outer presence, but inside it’s a hurricane.”

In Season 4, Amos finds himself in a unique situation after Holden agrees to help on the newly discovered planet of Ilus. And when he’s forced to spend several days trapped in a cave, Amos’ defense mechanisms are put to the test. “I think ultimately what happens is… when they go into those caves.” Chatham said, “there are circumstances that happen that he completely loses control of that [defense] mechanism and then you see straight into his heart and the thing that he’s been trying to protect the whole time.”

“Every now and then you have those moments where that’s being revealed,” Chatham added. “…right now people are identifying like, ‘[Amos is doing] an extreme [version] of what I do….’ But once that [defense] gets pulled away and you see [what’s underneath], I think [people are] going to be deeper connected [to Amos] because… that’s the truth…, that’s honesty and ‘that’s what I’m doing and that’s what I feel underneath. And this is my version of that story.’ And so anytime if you’re just being honest and truthful, people connect because we’re more alike in ways than we’re not alike.”

An adaption of the novel series of the same name by James S.A. Corey, The Expanse stars Steven Strait, Cas Anvar, Dominique Tipper, Wes Chatham, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Frankie Adams. Season 4 is now available on Amazon Prime.

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This information appeard first at https://www.cbr.com/the-expanse-wes-chatham-developed-amos/