Although Rosenfeld is a male character in the James S. A. Corey novels upon which The Expanse is based, both he and the television version act as a voice of reason within Marco’s inner circle. “She’s an established character [from the books], one of the Free Navy,” says Franck. “But more than anything we needed somebody for Marco to have conversations with and to be plotting and strategizing with, and he’s kind of killed all of his other allies. So he’s running out of friends at this point.” Rosenfeld also acts as a type of father-son mediator in the tensions between Marco and Filip. “The Marco-Filip relationship is so key to the events of season 6,” says Shankar. “And literally every single person who was close to Marco — Cyn, Karal — all of those people are gone. So he’s isolated; Filip is isolated. It’s a natural place for a character like Rosenfeld to come in to sort of illuminate all of those ideas about the relationship.” Rosenfeld’s motivations aren’t entirely altruistic or patriotic. We learned in a recent episode of The Expanse that this newly trusted lieutenant expects to rewarded with the governorship of Medina, the hub of the Ring space that leads to other worlds. Abraham notes that she wants “to take advantage of the power vacuum. When you have the new king rising up and he doesn’t have a full court, you go and see if you can maybe get your place there.” Hopefully, Marco’s lack of planning and unquenchable thirst for validation will lead to his inevitable defeat in The Expanse series finale. Holden may have been forced to pass up his opportunity to take the Belter leader out, but perhaps Drummer, who issued a broadcast insult that’s certain to ruffle Marco’s feathers, will have more success, if not the coalition forces amassing to bring the terrorist down. If so, Rosenfeld’s plans will be for naught, but if Marco has any chance for success at all, he would be well-advised to pay attention to this wise but calculating advisor.
