Syfy has expanded viewers' sampling options of the new spaceship drama The Expanse. Following Tuesday night's airing of the series' second episode, Syfy has made episodes 1-4 available on Syfy.com and on-demand cable, satellite and telco-TV platforms. The move makes the third and fourth episodes available in advance of their Syfy linear premieres on Dec. 22 and 29. The 10-part series (reviewed by MCNhere) airs on Syfy on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

Syfy said the pre-linear debut of The Expanse's first episode was sampled 4.4 million times (as of this morning) during its Nov. 23-Dec. 14 run on Syfy.com and other outlets.

Sara Moscowitz, senior vice president, brand and strategic marketing, at Syfy said in a release: “By giving viewers the opportunity to watch Episodes 3 and 4 early, we’re not only providing a little holiday gift for the series’ existing fans, but we’re also allowing new viewers who’ve heard about The Expanse to catch up on the series. With the potential to hook a broad audience over the holidays, we hope to debut Episode 5 to a committed, passionate fan base on Jan. 5.”

Set 200 years in the future, The Expanse follows the case of a missing young woman that brings a hardened detective (Thomas Jane, Hung) and a rogue ship’s captain (Steven Strait, Magic City) together in a race across the solar system that will expose the greatest conspiracy in human history. The series is based on the book series collectively known as "The Expanse," written by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (under the pen name James S. A. Corey).

Finally, a high-quality new space drama fills the vacuum that’s been left since Battlestar Galactica and some other period pieces on Syfy ended. (Stargate Universe anyone?)

The Expanse has the right combination of thoughtful human themes and implausibly great space-travel technology, given it’s set a mere 200 years into the future. Storylines blend nicely, the multicultural characters are well-drawn and there’s a fine mix of action and drama.

Earth has colonized the entire solar system and is in a cold-war conflict with Mars. People also live on outposts in the asteroid belt, mined for ice and oxygen; the “belters’ ” bodies have adapted badly to low-gravity environments. There are terrorist threats from a political movement called the Outer Planet Alliance.

The acting is terrific; the top-named actor is Thomas Jane, of HBO’s Hung, who plays Miller, a seedy-seeming cop who’s drawn into searching for a missing heiress. Scenes shift from Miller’s cop life in the Ceres space station to following the crew of the ice freighter Canterbury. They run into trouble after answering a distress call in space, which as we all know is never a good idea. Another key location is Earth, controlled by the United Nations, and a deputy secretary (played by Shohreh Aghdashloo of 24) who tries to maintain the fragile détente between Mars and Earth.

The pilot is online now at Syfy.com.