The series is based on the popular New York Times bestselling book series collectively known as The Expanse,  written by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (under the pen name James S. A. Corey). Abraham and Franck will be show producers.
A tortoiseshell cat is a coat color where the cat is a molted brown cat with black, reddish, or orange patches. They can also have white paws. Tortoiseshell cats have unique genetics. The vast majority of tortoiseshell cats are female, because two X chromosomes are required to produce black, gold and orange coloring.
Calico cats are domestic cats with a spotted or particolored coat that is predominantly white, with patches of two other colors (often, the two other colors are orange and black). Outside North America, the pattern is more usually called tortoiseshell-and-white.