The Expanse - Season 1 E...

On May 11, 2018, Syfy canceled the series after three seasons.[1] However, on May 26, Amazon Video announced it had picked up the series for a fourth season.[2][3] In July 2019, Amazon renewed the series for a fifth season,[4] which premiered on December 15, 2020.[5][6] In November 2020, the series was renewed by Amazon for a sixth and final season,[7] which premiered on December 10, 2021.[8]

The Expanse - Season 1 E...

The Expanse: One Ship is a series of webisodes released alongside the sixth season. The episodes are available in the X-Ray bonus content section via Prime Video and feature "small little character moments" aimed to provide more depth to the mainline story.[44]

The Expanse has received a positive critical response, with particular praise for its visuals, character development and political narrative. It received a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and three Saturn Award nominations for Best Science Fiction Television Series. Syfy cancelled the series after three seasons. Amazon later acquired the series, producing three more seasons, with the sixth and final season premiering on December 10, 2021. .mw-parser-output .toclimit-2 .toclevel-1 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-3 .toclevel-2 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-4 .toclevel-3 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-5 .toclevel-4 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-6 .toclevel-5 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-7 .toclevel-6 uldisplay:none

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.[14][15] 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".[16] Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby wrote the pilot and served as writers and showrunners alongside Naren Shankar.[17][15]

Terry McDonough was revealed to be directing the first two episodes of the series in October 2014.[4] In May 2015, before the first season aired, writing commenced for a second season,[18] which was ordered in December 2015.[19] The second season of The Expanse premiered on February 1, 2017.[20] On March 16, 2017, The Expanse was renewed by Syfy for a 13-episode third season to air in 2018.[21] 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.[22] 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.[23]

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.[24][25] Celebrities including Wil Wheaton, George R. R. Martin, Patton Oswalt and Andreas Mogensen supported the campaign.[26] Amazon Prime Video picked up the series for a fourth season, which was released on December 12, 2019.[27][28] In July 2019, Amazon renewed The Expanse for a fifth season,[29] which premiered on December 15, 2020.[30][31]

Ahead of the fifth season's release, Amazon renewed the series for a sixth and final season,[5] on November 24, 2020. Filming started in late January 2021.[32] 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",[33] Alcon's Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson said that they are "considering all kinds of interesting possibilities".[34] On October 8, 2021, it was announced that the sixth and final season would premiere on December 10, 2021.[35]

In July 2014, Thomas Jane was cast as Joe Miller.[38] In August 2014, Steven Strait and Shohreh Aghdashloo's attachment to the series as James Holden, and Chrisjen Avasarala was announced.[3] 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.[4] 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.[6] Frankie Adams was cast as Bobbie Draper for the second season in April 2016.[7] 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.[8] Additionally, Anvar did not return for the sixth and final season after being the subject of multiple sexual misconduct allegations.[5]

Produced by Alcon Television and The Sean Daniel Company, principal photography on the first season started on October 29, 2014, in Toronto[17] and concluded on March 27, 2015.[39] The second season filmed between April 13, 2016 and September 12, 2016. Filming for season 3 began on July 12, 2017.[40][41] In February 2019, cast member Lyndie Greenwood announced that the fourth season concluded filming.[42] Filming for the fifth season began on September 23, 2019 and ended on February 21, 2020.[43] Production on the sixth season took place between January 27, 2021 and May 7, 2021.[44][45]

The series has been described as a space opera by critics.[51][52][53] 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".[54] Vice has referred to the series as a "sci fi noir mystery-thriller"[53] and as hard science fiction.[55]

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."[56] The fourth season, according to the writers, also had "space Western vibes".[57]

The pilot episode was screened at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2015. In the United States, seasons 1 to 3 of The Expanse were broadcast by Syfy and streamed on Amazon Prime Video.[59] In Canada, these seasons aired on Space[60] and streamed on Crave.[61] In New Zealand, these seasons aired on Sky.[62] In all other countries where Netflix is available, seasons 1 and 2 were streamed[63] until September 2018. On February 8, 2019, Prime Video took over exclusive distribution of the first three seasons worldwide in preparation for premier of the fourth season in 2019.[64]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season has a score of 78% with an average rating of 7.1 out of 10 based on 46 reviews. The site's consensus states: "The Expanse blends sci-fi elements and detective noir into a visually compelling whole, though it takes a few episodes for the story to capture viewers' intrigue."[65] The first season received a rating of 65 out of 100 on Metacritic based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[66] Reporting on the pilot screening, io9's Lauren Davis declared herself "blown away" by The Expanse, appreciating its "incredible sense of scale" and its "deeply thought out future world that reflects on our present one, with high production values and characters who speak and act like real people".[67] Max Nicholson of IGN characterized the pilot as "grim and dramatic", and a "very dense hour of television", with the terminology and large cast sometimes difficult to follow for viewers unfamiliar with the novels, but highlighted the pilot's "gorgeous" visuals and effects reminiscent of Battlestar Galactica, Dune and Firefly.[68] Writing for Variety, Maureen Ryan was unimpressed by the first four episodes "awkwardly linking a series of somewhat muddled stories" and the series's stereotypical characters but credited it with tackling "issues of class, representation and exploitation" and a convincing design.[69] At Tor.com, Justin Landon highlighted The Expanse's "bold and unique cinematography" and its claustrophobic, discomforting set designs, as well as the "extremely faithful" characterization, but remarked that the patois spoken by the Belters, the natives of the asteroid belt, made the series difficult to follow.[70]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has a score of 100% with an average rating of 9 out of 10 based on 34 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Smart and thrilling as ever, The Expanse's fourth season doesn't miss a beat, successfully navigating network changes without losing any of its rich character work or narrative complexities."[80] The season received a rating 91 out of 100 on Metacritic based on reviews from 4 critics indicating "universal acclaim".[81] Writing for Den of Geek, Michael Ahr gave it a 5/5 review and wrote, "With its brilliantly crafted, multilayered plot, The Expanse season four proves itself worthy of Amazon's rescue in a nearly perfect season."[82] Sadie Gennis of TV Guide also praised the fourth season, giving it a score of 4.5/5.[83] 041b061a72