Setting

Hundreds of years in the future, humanity has colonized the Solar System. The three largest powers are the United Nations of Earth and Luna, the Martian Congressional Republic on Mars, and the Outer Planets Alliance (OPA), a loose political confederation of colonies scattered across the asteroid belt and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. The United Nations is a militaristic, ultra-capitalist society with authoritarian undertones, while the Martians have evolved into a corporatist culture. Both ruthlessly exploit and oppress the "Belter" populations of the OPA to gain control of their valuable natural resources.

Season 1

UN Deputy Undersecretary Chrisjen Avasarala works to prevent simmering tensions between the United Nations and Mars from erupting into all-out war. Ceres police investigator Josephus "Joe" Miller is tasked with finding a missing young woman, Julie Mao, who has ties to the OPA. The Canterbury, an industrial ice-harvesting ship, and the Martian Navy flagship Donnager are destroyed by unknown stealth ships. James Holden, Naomi Nagata, Alex Kamal, and Amos Burton survive both attacks and escape in the Tachi, a Martian gunship. They rename the ship Rocinante, which becomes the main setting of the series.^[1] The crew of the Rocinante, with Miller's help, investigate and eventually discover a biohazard that kills off most of the humans on the asteroid spaceport Eros, including Julie. Chrisjen sends her family away after realizing that a faction within the UN is responsible for the demise of both ships.

Season 2

The crew of the Rocinante, along with members of the OPA, attack the station responsible for the biohazard on Eros. Learning that it is an extra-solar bio-weapon known as the protomolecule, they attempt to destroy Eros. Miller becomes trapped there and dies when it crashes into Venus. Martian Marine Bobbie Draper fights an inhuman figure on Ganymede and later, during peace talks between Earth and Mars, becomes a protégé of Avasarala. The crew tries to help a father, Prax, find his daughter. In the process, they encounter and kill a figure akin to the one that Draper fought, now known as a "protomolecule hybrid", developed by Jules-Pierre Mao. A research ship, sent to Venus to investigate the crash of Eros into the planet, is stopped dead in the atmosphere and dismantled by the protomolecule.

Season 3

The UN declares war, as Earth and Mars send science vessels to investigate what is happening on Venus. Political tensions soar as the OPA is recognized as the government of the Belters and Prax is reunited with his daughter. The protomolecule forms the Ring, a structure which takes an orbital position beyond Uranus, and all three governments race to send their ships through. After a Belter racing ship slingshots through the Ring at high speed, the ring believes the high speed humans and objects to be dangerous and activates defenses that threaten humanity. Through Holden, a projection of Miller tries to shut off the defenses of the ring and convince the protomolecule that humanity is not a threat. The ring reveals itself to be a massive network of wormholes to other solar systems, each containing a habitable earth-like planet.

Season 4

A land rush to other star systems with habitable worlds begins, with thousands of planets accessible via the Ring's wormholes. Refugee ships from the Belt and overcrowded Earth are stopped at the gateway. A ship runs the blockade, and the crew of the Rocinante are sent through the portal to investigate the situation on the exoplanet, called Ilus. The settlers have been joined by an officially backed scientific expedition with private military support, leading to frequent violence between the two groups. The crew fails to ease tensions and decides to find out what is happening on the planet and where the previous civilization has gone. With the help of Miller, Holden reactivates an ancient structure, setting off a chain of cataclysmic events. Efforts to terraform Mars wane as habitable worlds are available.

Season 5

A deadly conspiracy threatens Earth, as the crew of the Rocinante pursue personal missions while their ship is in dry dock at Tycho Station. Draper and Avasarala investigate the Martian military's ties to a growing threat from a rogue faction of Belters. Marco Inaros, the rebel leader, assembles a Belter fleet and attacks Earth with stealth-shielded asteroids.

Season 6

Holden and the crew of the Rocinante fight alongside the Combined Fleet of Earth and Mars to protect the Inner Planets from Marco Inaros and his Free Navy. The combined fleet, allied with the ships of Camina Drummer and other Belter forces, defeats Marco and the Free Navy by antagonizing an unknown alien presence. On a distant planet, a young colonist discovers animals that can resurrect her dead sibling.

Main

• Thomas Jane as Joe Miller/The Investigator (seasons 1–2; special appearances seasons 3–4), a Belter detective on Ceres assigned to find Julie Mao^[2]
• Steven Strait as James Holden, the Earther executive officer on the Canterbury, later the captain of the Rocinante^[2]
• Cas Anvar as Alex Kamal (seasons 1–5), the Martian pilot of the Canterbury, later the pilot of the Rocinante^[3][4]
• Dominique Tipper as Naomi Nagata, a Belter engineer of the Canterbury, later the engineer of the Rocinante^[3]
• Wes Chatham as Amos Burton, an Earther mechanic of the Canterbury, originally from Baltimore; later the mechanic of the Rocinante^[3]
• Paulo Costanzo as Shed Garvey (season 1), the Canterbury's medical technician^[3]
• Florence Faivre as Juliette "Julie" Andromeda Mao (seasons 1–2; special appearance season 3), the missing daughter of business tycoon Jules-Pierre Mao
• Shawn Doyle as Sadavir Errinwright (seasons 1–3), UN Undersecretary of Executive Administration^[5]
• Shohreh Aghdashloo as Chrisjen Avasarala, UN Deputy Undersecretary of Executive Administration, later UN Secretary-General^[2]
• Frankie Adams as Roberta "Bobbie" W. Draper (seasons 2–6), an MMC (Martian Marine Corps) gunnery sergeant^[6]
• Cara Gee as Camina Drummer (seasons 4–6; recurring seasons 2–3), Tycho Station's Belter head of security, later the leader of the rebel faction opposing the Free Navy
• Keon Alexander as Marco Inaros (seasons 5–6; recurring season 4), a Belter faction leader, later head of the Free Navy^[7]
• Jasai Chase Owens as Filip Inaros (seasons 5–6; guest season 4), Marco and Naomi's son, currently working for Marco^[7]
• Nadine Nicole as Clarissa Melpomene Mao (seasons 5–6; recurring season 3; guest season 4), Jules-Pierre Mao's elder daughter who initially seeks revenge against Holden, later a crew member on Rocinante^[7]

Recurring

Guest

• Jean Yoon as Theresa Yao (season 1), captain of the MCRN Donnager
• Rachael Crawford as J. Peñano (season 2), an MCRN admiral
• Atticus Mitchell as Sinopoli (season 3), a MCRN ensign who served aboard the MCRN Kittur Chennamma
• Natalie Lisinska as Shaffer (season 3), a lieutenant aboard the UNN Agatha King who is loyal to Souther
• Morgan Kelly as Mancuso (season 3), a lieutenant aboard the UNN Agatha King who is loyal to Souther
• John Kapelos as Ren Hazuki (season 3), a Savage Industries electrician assigned to the UNN Thomas Prince
• Yanna McIntosh as Chandra Lucas (season 3), captain of the MCRN Askia, later captain of the MCRN Xuesen
• Tim DeKay as Emil Sauveterre (season 5), a Martian admiral
• Gabriel Darku as Yoan (season 6), friend of Filip
• Dylan Taylor as Winston Duarte (season 6), former Martian admiral on Laconia
• Vieslav Krystyan as Owain (season 6), Belter on Ceres with a cat
• Joe Perry as Tadeo (season 6), repair technician onboard the Pella

Development

The Expanse is based on the novel series of the same name by James S. A. Corey, a pen name of the authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who also serve as writers and producers for the show. The first novel, Leviathan Wakes (2011), was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel and Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. On September 4, 2013, The Expanse was optioned for television by Alcon Television Group.^[13][14] On April 11, 2014, Syfy announced a straight-to-series commitment to a television adaptation of the book series, and ordered the production of 10 one-hour-long episodes for the first season. On that date Syfy President Dave Howe commented: "The Expanse is epic in scale and scope and promises to be Syfy's most ambitious series to date".^[15] Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby wrote the pilot and served as writers and showrunners alongside Naren Shankar.^[16][14]

Terry McDonough was revealed to be directing the first two episodes of the series in October 2014.^[3] In May 2015, before the first season aired, writing commenced for a second season,^[17] which was ordered in December 2015.^[18] The second season of The Expanse premiered on February 1, 2017.^[19] On March 16, 2017, The Expanse was renewed by Syfy for a 13-episode third season to air in 2018.^[20] Four digital comics based on the books and tying into the television series have been published by ComiXology. The first focuses on the origin of James Holden and was released February 1, 2017.^[21] The next three, highlighting the origins of other characters are: Naomi Nagata, released April 19, 2017; Alex Kamal, released May 24, 2017; and Amos Burton, released July 12, 2017. The show's title sequence was animated and directed by Australian studio Breeder and its VFX team.^[22]

Cancellation and renewals

Alcon Entertainment produces and finances the series. It sold three seasons to Syfy, which canceled the series in May 2018. Fans protested the cancellation, gathering over 100,000 signatures for an online petition. They lobbied Amazon Studios and Netflix to greenlight the fourth season and a crowdfunding campaign paid for an airplane to fly a "#SaveTheExpanse" banner around Amazon Studios.^[23][24] Celebrities including Wil Wheaton, George R. R. Martin, Patton Oswalt and Andreas Mogensen supported the campaign.^[25] Amazon Prime Video picked up the series for a fourth season, which was released on December 12, 2019.^[26][27] In July 2019, Amazon renewed The Expanse for a fifth season,^[28] which premiered on December 15, 2020.^[29][30]

On November 24, 2020, ahead of the fifth season's release, Amazon renewed the series for a sixth and final season.^[4] Filming started in late January 2021.^[31] However, the authors of the novels and writers on the series, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, have stated that they view season 6 as a "pause" rather than a conclusion and that Alcon Entertainment "is very committed to the IP",^[32] Alcon's Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson said that they are "considering all kinds of interesting possibilities".^[33] On October 8, 2021, it was announced that the sixth and final season would premiere on December 10, 2021.^[34]

In January 2023, it was announced that the continuation of the series, set between Babylon's Ashes and Persepolis Rising, would be adapted into a 12-issue comic book series, The Expanse: Dragon Tooth.^[35][36]

Casting

In July 2014, Thomas Jane was cast as Joe Miller.^[37] In August 2014, Steven Strait and Shohreh Aghdashloo's attachment to the series as James Holden, and Chrisjen Avasarala was announced.^[2] October of that same year, Dominique Tipper, Cas Anvar, Paulo Costanzo, and Wes Chatham were cast as Naomi Nagata, Alex Kamal, Shed Garvey, and Amos Burton while Jonathan Banks and Jay Hernandez were announced to be guest starring in the series.^[3] One month later, Shawn Doyle was cast as Sadavir Errinwright, while Chad L. Coleman and Jared Harris were cast in the recurring roles of Fred Johnson and Anderson Dawes, respectively.^[5] Frankie Adams was cast as Bobbie Draper for the second season in April 2016.^[6] On January 21, 2020, Keon Alexander, Nadine Nicole, and Jasai Chase Owens (who portray Marco Inaros, Clarissa Melpomene Mao, and Filip Inaros, respectively), were promoted to the main cast for the fifth season. Later, Lily Gao was cast in a recurring role as Nancy Gao for the fourth and fifth seasons, a candidate for UN secretary-general.^[7] Additionally, Anvar did not return for the sixth and final season after being the subject of multiple sexual misconduct allegations.^[4]

Filming

Produced by Alcon Television and The Sean Daniel Company, principal photography on the first season started on October 29, 2014, in Toronto^[16] and concluded on March 27, 2015.^[38] The second season filmed between April 13, 2016, and September 12, 2016. Filming for season 3 began on July 12, 2017.^[39][40] In February 2019, cast member Lyndie Greenwood announced that the fourth season concluded filming.^[41] Filming for the fifth season began on September 23, 2019, and ended on February 21, 2020.^[42] Production on the sixth season took place between January 27, 2021, and May 7, 2021.^[43][44] It was impacted by COVID-19 pandemic restrictions,^[45] as was post-production of the fifth season.^[46]

Title sequence

The title sequence of the series has been lauded by reviewers for its ability to elegantly and wordlessly convey important information about the worlds in which the series takes place. The title sequence was created by Breeder, a motion graphics design studio in Brisbane, Australia.^[47] Drawing comparisons to the opening sequence of Game of Thrones, Jason Morehead of Opuszine notes that not only does it depict the development of Earth's expansion into the solar system, it introduces the viewer to the political dynamics within the series. "Earth is the old guard, intent on controlling the system and her former colonies; technologically advanced Mars is driven to become a paradise; and the Belt is fighting to keep from being treated as a second-class citizen by both Earth and Mars."^[48]

While the title sequence does change visually as the series progresses, the lyrics that accompany Clinton Shorter's title theme – written and performed by Lisbeth Scott – remain the same. Scott noted in a post on Facebook that her words were drawn from Norwegian, though she apologized for any errors in syntax, grammar and pronunciation.^[49]

Music

The show's soundtrack was composed by Shorter.^[50][51] The first season's soundtrack dubbed The Expanse Season 1 – The Original Television Soundtrack, consisting of nineteen tracks, was released by Lakeshore Records, on May 20, 2016, via iTunes,^[50] and on May 26, 2016, via Amazon.^[51]

Language

The Belter characters speak Belter Creole, an invented language created for the show by linguist Nick Farmer; these characters speak English with a distinctive accent. As explained in one article, "People who have migrated to the Belt come from all over Earth speaking dozens of languages, and they're often isolated for years at a time on remote mining stations. To communicate, they evolve a creole called Belter, which becomes the lingua franca for what is essentially the solar system's new proletariat."^[52][53]

Genre and themes

The series has been described as a space opera by critics.^[54][55][56] Emily VanDerWerff of Vox describes the first season of the series to be a "blend of science fiction and noir-infused detective drama, with a backdrop of political intrigue".^[57] Vice has referred to the series as a "sci fi noir mystery-thriller"^[56] and as hard science fiction.^[58] Opposed to the latter, the source books' authors define their approach as aiming for a "Wikipedia level of plausibility".^[59][60]

Prior to the series premiere, Mark Fergus spoke of the series's Western themes: "Everywhere is kind of back to the frontier rules so it gives us all that stuff back that we lost. Cellular technology. You can get a little more Western about it."^[61] The fourth season, according to the writers, also had "space Western vibes".^[62]

Analyzing the show, Tech Times wrote that The Expanse "...is more than just a science fiction show about people traveling the solar system in spaceships. It ... covers ... politics, poverty, oppression, discrimination, and the struggle for resources in harsh environments."^[63]

Critical response

Ratings

Season four was the first season not to be broadcast on live TV and not get weekly viewership ratings. Per Parrot Analytics, the season ranked fourth in most watched digital originals in the United States in December 2019.^[101]

Accolades

The Expanse: A Telltale Series

During The Game Awards 2021, a reveal trailer announced The Expanse: A Telltale Series which was co-developed by Deck Nine Games and Telltale Games.^[128] The game is a prequel to the TV series, Cara Gee reprised her role as Camina Drummer, the executive officer onboard a scavenger ship named Artemis. Chad L. Coleman, Florence Faivre, François Chau and Shohreh Aghdashloo also reprised their roles. Episode one was released on July 27, 2023, and is published by Telltale Games for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and the Epic Games Store on PC.^[129]

Aftershow and podcast

Beginning December 16, 2020, Wes Chatham and Ty Franck started hosting weekly programs that feature behind-the-scenes information about the series, first as The Expanse Season 5 Aftershow after each season's episode.^[130] Upon the conclusion of Season 5 (after the airing of the season 5 finale), they continued on Wednesdays as Ty & That Guy Podcast, covering each series' episode, from The Expanse S1E1, additionally discussing their inspirations from genre culture, and occasionally having guests both related and not to the series.^[131][132] The Expanse Season 6 Aftershow with Chatham and Franck, produced by Amazon Studios, was distributed by Amazon Prime Video and Ty & That Guy Podcast in video and audio formats.