The Expanse: The Space Series Fans Saved

Most television science fiction treats space as a backdrop. The Expanse treats it as a place, with gravity, distance and physics that shape every decision its characters make. That realism, and a story built on the politics of a colonised solar system, made it one of the most admired science fiction series of its time.

It also came close to ending early. Its first network cancelled it after three seasons, and fans campaigned until another picked it up. Here is what the series is, how it was saved, and where to start.

From the novels

The Expanse is based on a series of novels published under the name James S. A. Corey, a pen name shared by two writers, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. The books are among the best-known examples of modern space opera.

Space opera is the big, adventurous end of science fiction, full of ships, wars and empires. The Expanse adds something unusual to it: a strong interest in getting the science right. Our guide to hard SF versus space opera explains why that combination is rare.

The setting

Humanity has colonised the solar system, but not gone beyond it. Earth, Mars and the Belt, the people living in the asteroid belt and outer moons, compete for resources and power, with Earth and Mars as rival superpowers and the Belters as a poor, exploited working class.

Into this tense balance comes something alien: the protomolecule, a mysterious technology that drives the plot of the series and threatens to change everything humanity thought it knew about its place in the universe.

Ceres and a missing woman

The story begins in several places at once. On Ceres, the dwarf planet in the asteroid belt pictured above, a detective called Joe Miller investigates the disappearance of a young woman, a routine case that opens onto a conspiracy.

Elsewhere, the crew of an ice-hauling ship become caught up in an attack that threatens war between Earth and Mars. Their small ship, and the people on it, become the heart of the series.

The characters

At the centre is James Holden, an idealistic officer who survives the attack on his ship and ends up commanding a stolen warship, the Rocinante, with a crew of fellow survivors: the engineer Naomi Nagata, the mechanic Amos Burton and the pilot Alex Kamal. The four of them, from Earth, Mars and the Belt, become a kind of family.

Around them are characters who show the politics of the solar system: Chrisjen Avasarala, a sharp-tongued Earth politician; Bobbie Draper, a Martian marine; and Belters struggling for recognition. The series lets each side make its case, which is one reason its conflicts feel real.

Science you can feel

Critics widely praised the show for its realistic science. Ships accelerate and their crews feel the force, pinned into their seats. Decompression is lethal, the vacuum of space is silent and deadly, and propulsion and stealth work in ways that follow the logic of physics rather than convenience.

Gravity is a constant presence. People raised in the low gravity of the Belt are tall and thin and cannot easily visit Earth, a detail that turns physics into politics and identity. It is one of the clearest examples of how science can drive drama rather than limit it.

Cancelled and saved

The series premiered on Syfy in December 2015 and ran there for three seasons, until June 2018. In May 2018 Syfy cancelled it. Fans responded with a campaign to save the show, and Amazon Prime Video picked it up.

Amazon produced three more seasons, four to six. It was a rare happy ending for a cancelled series, and a sign of how loyal its audience had become.

The ending

The sixth and final season premiered in December 2021 and ended in January 2022, with six episodes. The series as a whole adapts the first six novels, bringing the main story to a close without adapting every book in the series.

Some fans hoped for more, since the novels continue the story much further. But the show reached a natural stopping point, and it ended on its own terms rather than being cut off mid-story.

Awards

The Expanse won three Hugo Awards for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, from six nominations. The Hugos are voted on by science fiction fans, so the awards reflect how highly the show was regarded within the genre's own community.

Its reputation has only grown since it ended, and it is often recommended as the best entry point for viewers who want serious science fiction on television.

Where to start

Start with the first episode and give it time: the opening season sets up several stories that take a while to connect. Viewers who enjoy it can then read the novels, which go further than the series.

For where the series sits in the wider genre, see our reader's map of science fiction. For a very different big-budget series, set in Middle-earth, read The Rings of Power explained.