It’s a bad day to be a fan-favorite TV show that got canceled by its original home and found new life at a different outlet: Pop canceled One Day At A Time after resurrecting the Netflix series, and now Amazon is bringing The Expanse—which started life as a Syfy show—to an end. Things are little rosier for The Expanse, though, with Deadline saying that the sci-fi series will at least get one final season to wrap things up. This will be the show’s sixth season and the third since moving to Amazon Prime, with season five set to premiere in just a few weeks. Deadline also says that production on season six might start as early as January 20, which seems pretty optimistic, but maybe that means fans won’t have to wait too long to see how the show ends.
Whenever the show returns for its final season, it will reportedly be without cast member Cas Anvar, who was accused of sexual misconduct over the summer. The accusations surfaced on social media, at which point Daniel Abraham—one of the authors whose work the show is based on—brought them to the attention of producer Alcon, which then launched an investigation. Deadline doesn’t say what came of that investigation, but Anvar won’t be back either way.
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“Deadline doesn’t say what came of that investigation, but Anvar won’t be back either way.”I think we have an answer of sorts just from this.
I suspect they’re gonna recast because Alex plays a big role in the next season.
Alex was one of my favorite characters so I hope it ends up being a recast. Thankfully this is a sci-fi show, so instant plastic surgery or wearing a helmet etc. are options. Maybe Dr. Bashir can swing over from DS9 and give him a touchup.
I don’t think the character’s appearance needs to change to reflect a recast. It’s a fairly smart show, so let’s give the audience a bit more credit.
Well it isn’t the audience so much as the internal mechanics and the characters. In “Fresh Prince” nobody on the show mentioned Aunt Viv being completely replaced by a very different looking actress because it was a goofy sitcom. However, “The Expanse” takes itself pretty seriously and would have to explain, in-universe, why one person suddenly looked quite different. The audience would obviously get the re-casting, but the show would need to explain it.
“However, “The Expanse” takes itself pretty seriously and would have to explain, in-universe, why one person suddenly looked quite different.” No it wouldn’t. They’re actors. That’s like saying they should explain why space looked better as the show’s CGI improved.That’s how you end up with reams of backstory explaining how that one guy in Star Wars totally wasn’t carrying an ice cream machine.
I’ve suspected for a while that Season 5 is going to compress books 5 and 6 into one season. The state of things at the end of Nemesis Games is an incredibly unsatisfying conclusion for a season of a show. And while the show has thus far averaged out to one book per season, it hasn’t actually been adapted that way. Season 1 covered about half of book 1. S2 covered the rest of book 1 and about 2/3s of book 2. S3 finished book 2 and then did all of book 3. Season 4 is the only one that they’ve gone ‘we’re just doing this book.’And I can see a bunch of ways to compress books 7 and 8 into one season. Book 9 is the big question mark.
SOME SPOILERS AHEAD. I’M BEING AS VAGUE AS I CAN BUT YOU’VE BEEN WARNED:.
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(you could have Elvi’s research mission and the majority of the Laconia stuff (sans a couple of characters) happen in parallel to the events in Sol and Medina. You don’t need ANY of the POV stuff with Medina’s new administrator. You could get the Roci crew off of Medina and out of ring space by episode 3 or 4, and have The Horrible Nightmare Thing happen at the same time they get out, etc).
My guess is Series 5 and 6 are gonna be more or less straight adaptations of their respective novels, and the Laconian stuff just doesn’t get addressed
Agreed. Add to that the fact that there is a 30 year jump after Babylon’s Ashes (Book 6) and you have the ability to end the series on good note. It’s also possible in a few years they could revisit the show if someone’s up for producing new seasons.
Someone over on io9 noted how damning it was that none of the cast came out in Anvar’s defense. Also, I haven’t rewatched any of them since the revelations, but in all of the behind the scenes and panel footage I remember there being a kind of . . . tension between Anvar and everyone else? Just a vibe from him, for however unscientific that is, but having that vibe in mind when the allegations came out it wasn’t a total shock. I will say, and this is gonna be an odd comparison, but it was a vibe similar to what I got from reading behind the scenes stuff for that Paul Schrader film, “The Canyons,” and coming away with the impression that, like, there’s something up with that James Deen fellow. And then he got charged with raping people on his porn sets, and I was like, “A-ha! I knew it!”Anyway, yeah, I think the show should replace Anvar with a better actor and not even acknowledge it.
Yes just replace him and act like nothing happened. Hopefully they have learned from their mistake in replacing Arjun with a crappier actor.
I am impressed with how the show handled adapting the fourth book. Especially considering my biggest gripe with it was how Elvie was the most badly written character in the entire series. All she ever really did in the book was give exposition and fawn over Holden. Her arc is literally concluded with her having sex with somebody else and then she’s totally over Holden. It went absolutely nowhere I’m so glad that the show just brought Naomi down planetside for bit and excised the entire subplot.Don’t get me wrong, I liked the rest of the book. But it is weird how badly Elvie was written considering Corey is pretty good at writing women in the series.
OK. So, I’ve been hearing about “The Expanse” for a while, thinking, “this sounds like pretty good TV show. I need to catch up.” This is the first time I am hearing that there are books.
Should I read the books, or watch the show?
Books are very good, fast-paced reads with some great characters and very focused on accuracy as far as how stuff would work in space for humans, not to say they don’t get into some fantastical sci-fi areas. 9th and last one comes out next year, so we won’t get left hanging like with GRRM. Show is a very well-done adaption of them that streamlines a lot of stuff, some for good, some to its detriment just from it not being as rich. So, I’d recommend both in whatever order you like to do that sort of thing with adaptations.
Having read two of the books in the series, the Expanse is on my very short list of adaptations that clearly outpaced their source material. Other people liked the books a lot, but the characters that read really flat and uninteresting to me came alive in the show.
i agree with you- i would say the first few books feel fresh because they had an interesting world they created and that papers over the weak characters. but once they have to rely on their ability to write stories based around characters their whole thing falls apart. the show (so far) has managed to work around that
One thing that irks me in Season 1 is how the Roci crew had no idea Alex was ex-Martian Navy dispute the fact that he was clearly Martian (IIRC a lot of early Martian colonists were from Texas and also military service is mandatory on Mars. I could be misremembering this since it’s been a year since I read the books.). Hell in the book they already knew this.But overall the show improves on a lot of things.
I’ve only seen the show, but I remember that being a pretty distinct plot divot. Like, Holden is an ex-Navy officer. You’d think U.N. Navy officers would have some training in how to spot their Martian counterparts, in case a Martian tried to infiltrate a U.N. ship or something? I figure they held off to give the show a bit of breathing room while setting up Miller and Avasarala’s stories before dropping the big dramatic reveal of Alex being ex-MCRN.
Also, one thing the show improved was Ashford. His book counterpart is raving lunatic. While the show counterpart is basically a hybrid of Ashford and Bull, a was Fred Johnson friend in the book who was supposed originally supposed to take command of Behemoth but was demoted to security chief because he was an Earther.
I really loved show-Ashford (not least because David Straithairn is one of my favorite actors) and was glad that they revamped him in that way. Except for the very end of his arc, which portrayed him doing something really stupid just because they needed a way to tie up that plotline.
Are you talking about what happened in Season 3?
No, episode 4×10, “Cibola Burn”.
I only read the first two books, but would strongly agree that the show is better. The show just makes really, really smart changes. I imagine it helps having Franck and Abraham in the room and that they’re not precious about the source material.SPOILERSOne that surprised me right off the bat is Holden making the decision to log the distress signal. It’s a relatively minor thing, but it does so much for the first few episodes. Not only does it tell you a lot about Holden’s character, but it also adds a new layer of tension while they bounce from ship to ship, and helps characterize the rest of the Roci in how they respond.Also, the show is better able to characterize the villains. Both Errinwright and Jules-Pierre Mao get more screentime and we’re able to get a much better understanding of what drives them, which does a lot for the entire universe.
Really good points. I wonder if the fact that the book was collaboratively written helps with them letting and encouraging the series to make substantive improvements.
The show is better.The books aren’t as good with women characters as male readers seem to think they are (e.g. Bobbi Draper had a whole story line to herself where she wasn’t sexualized at all, and then as soon as that wrapped up, it was suddenly very very important that the author(s) have four male characters in a row reflect upon how very boner-worthy Bobbi is.)Also, the characterization in the show is better overall. For example, in the books, Amos is just a jarhead. In the show, the actor makes him this understated combination of vulnerable and damaged, yet very scary and competent.
“Amos is just a jarhead.”Not Murder Snuggles!
“in the books, Amos is just a jarhead”I’m not remembering that at all from the books, especially The Churn, but as soon as I finish the sci fi anthology I’m reading I’m going to reread The Expanse books quick before the last one comes out in January so I’ll see if I’m remembering wrong.
The show is better for character stuff but the books are better for the big ideas stuff. It’s about the only series that’s longer than 3 books I’ve ever read that was actually worth the amount of books it takes up though. Most times if an author(s) get to book 4 it means they need a way better editor.
Some mixed feelings about this, ofc, and it will be interesting to see how much the show deviates from the books at this point. Could be quite a bit considering the course the novels take.
I think everything after the time jump gets cut for sure and they may pull some of the “big reveals” (if there are any) from the 9th book into the end of the show.
I mean, there kinda have to be, right? We still don’t even really know anything about the principle antagonists. We know that they are spooky, advanced, live between the raindrops or whatever, and make bombs and traps. That’s more or less it. The book readers know as little as the show watchers, more or less. It’s not a large focus of the story being told, but I do hope that we understand by the end what these things are and what their problem is with civilizations.
You would think, but it could also end with “who knows what those crazy f-ers were up to, good thing we didn’t get our whole system sterilized (yet)!” I think there will be considering where they left Amos at the end of TW, but maybe they aren’t really interested in telling that side of things and more just humanity’s reaction to it.
Ha, yeah, that is a definite possibility with the kind of storytelling they like to do. I’d still be kind of surprised if they left it that vague, though. If they were going to keep it that formless, I feel like they wouldn’t have ever done the whole thing with The Detective and Holden’s visions. Seems to me like that implies that they don’t want to keep us totally in the dark. Still, though, it could totally happen. I just hope it doesn’t. Regardless, I’m fully committed to this ride either way. Willing them to stick the landing
That could work though, in a Lovecraftian sort of way.
Judging by the preview clip, it looks like even in Season 5 they’re going to try to bring in the protomolecule-adversary-related content from the later books.
I think it’s safe to assume that season 5 was always going to be books 5 and 6 combined.The challenge is in adapting the final three books into a single season, but they are really telling one big story so I think it’s possible. But it will be kinda rushed.Also (and here we go into spoilers territory for the books): I always felt that the time jump was mishandled in the books in that nothing really changed. And one of the two things I thought would have made the time jump feel more “real” was if they would have killed Alex (much as I love him, the most expandable main character) off during the jump. So the Anvar thing works well for them.
Agree on the time jump in the book – it doesn’t move the needle much plot-wise. I figured if the jump was integrated into the book, it would be perhaps 5-10 years, which I suppose in itself wouldn’t make much difference either.
Ah, too bad the show doesn’t get to follow the books 1:1 (it has currently been pretty close with 1 season = 1 book, and the series will be 9 books long). Although books 7-8 feel a bit like filler before the finale, so this could in some ways be a good move, even. A quality show, I’m amazed how well the books have been adapted, although it is a bit dense and not suited for casual viewing which surely means a smaller audience. So Bezos must have pulled some strings for season 6, I bet a show like that wouldn’t survive the normal axing process high-quality sci-fi generally gets otherwise…
The inners take everything.
Remember the Cant!
Forget the can!
“Deadline also says that production on season six might start as early as January 20, which seems pretty optimistic’Not really that optimistic. It shoots in Toronto where we’ve been going full steam ahead with productions since August.
I wondered why all of the buildings in it looked like Toronto City Hall.
We were all just so tired of the Vancouver public library.
I will never get tired of the Vancouver Public Library.
I wonder if someday a Hollywood studio will pay the UN to build another HQ in Toronto just so it can pass as New York better.
Is this show worth persevering with? I’m into season 2 and it’s clearly a good show, but Steven Strait is such a charisma vacuum, and Shohreh Aghdashloo is either horribly miscast or just doesn’t seem to give a shit about acting well. I do really want to like it though, it’s some proper grown-up sci-fi.
I guess we should be glad they’ll have the source material to finish with, instead of speculating. Given how much I hated the compressed GoT season, I’m a little worried about the show rushing major developments (or spending too much time on non-core stories now that time is at a premium)
Given season 5 is done filming, I’d assume it only tracks with book 5 (or maybe they covered book 6, too). That gives them one season to cover the final 3-4 books. Maybe Amazon has a final movie planned? It just seems like there’s going to be a lot of ground to cover in that last season.
I need to give this show another chance. I got halfway through the first episode and they just throw a million things at you that seem like you should already know about.
You’ve got Earth, Mars and the Belt all fighting each other to some extent or another.The first scene doesn’t actually take place first in chronological order, it just takes a while to find that out. That confused the hell out of me initially. Picture it as a prologue, the story really starts on the Cant.
The sixth book is really the best stopping point for the series anyway given the 30 year time jump to book seven.
WARNING – MINOR (NON-SPECIFIC) SPOILERS AHEADLAST CHANCE
OK HERE GOESI’ve said this elsewhere but… I wouldn’t be surprised if they end the show before the time-jump in some manner, and then hold off for ten years or so (or maybe less) before revealing a “revival” of The Expanse which will deal with the post-time jump events.It allows the cast to age up a bit, gives them an opportunity to recast as/where necessary, and also benefits from the innate hype in “reviving” a beloved show (as we’re seeing so often at the moment).I also wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t do this. But the idea is now planted.
The fact that they’re stopping at season 6 would support this.
It’s a good show, but six seasons should be enough for anyone to tell a story.
This keeps popping up in my “suggested for you” list. Five season length has me intimidated but intrigued. Is it worth the commitment?
Most seasons are only 10 episodes, so it’s nowhere near as big as something with 20+ episodes a season.And also, yes – it’s probably just about the best science fiction tv show since BSG.