The Expanse (TV series)


The Expanse is an American science fiction television series developed by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, based on the series of novels of the same name by James S. A. Corey. The series is set in a future where humanity has colonized the Solar System. It follows a disparate band of antiheroes – United Nations Security Council member Chrisjen Avasarala, police detective Josephus Miller, ship's officer James Holden and his crew – as they unwittingly unravel and place themselves at the center of a conspiracy which threatens the system's fragile state of Cold War.
The Expanse has received critical acclaim, 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. Alcon Entertainment produces and finances the series. It sold three seasons to Syfy, which canceled the series in May 2018. Amazon Prime Video picked up the series for a fourth season, which was released on December 12, 2019. On July 27, 2019, Amazon renewed The Expanse for a fifth season.

Series overview

Setting

Hundreds of years in the future, the Solar System has been colonized by humanity. The three largest powers are the United Nations of Earth and Luna, the Martian Congressional Republic on Mars, and the Outer Planets Alliance, a loose configuration of the asteroid belt and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

Season 1

Chrisjen Avasarala, a United Nations executive, works to prevent war between Earth and Mars. Ceres police detective Joe Miller is sent to find a missing young woman, Julie Mao. The space-freighter Canterbury and the Martian Navy flagship Donnager are destroyed by ships built by Jules-Pierre Mao, Julie's father. James Holden, Naomi Nagata, Alex Kamal and Amos Burton escape in a Martian gunship named the Tachi. They subsequently rename the ship Rocinante which becomes the main setting of the series. The crew of the Rocinante, with Miller's help, investigates and eventually discovers a biohazard that kills off most of the humans on the asteroid Eros, including Julie.

Season 2

Martian Marine Bobbie Draper fights an inhuman figure on Ganymede and later becomes a protégé of Avasarala. The crew try to help a father find his daughter and, in the process, encounters and kills the figure 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, is stopped dead in the atmosphere and completely disassembled by the protomolecule.

Season 3

The UN declares war as Earth and Mars send science vessels to investigate what's happening on Venus.

Season 4

A land rush begins now that portals to other habitable worlds have opened up. Earth begins to invest vast resources on earthlike worlds beyond the portal. Throughout the solar system, residents' efforts to enhance life, particularly terraforming on Mars, begin to wane, since much richer worlds are now available via the portal, making investment "here at home" less attractive.

Cast and characters

Main

Introduced in season 1

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, was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel and Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. 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".
Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby wrote the pilot, directed by Terry McDonough, and serve as writers and showrunners alongside Naren Shankar. Produced by Alcon Television and The Sean Daniel Company, principal photography started on October 29, 2014, in Toronto. The pilot episode was screened at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2015.
In May 2015, before the first season aired, writing commenced for a second season, which was ordered in December 2015. The second season of The Expanse premiered on February 1, 2017.
On March 16, 2017, The Expanse was renewed by Syfy for a 13-episode third season to air in 2018. Filming for season 3 began on July 12, 2017.
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. 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.

Cancellation and renewal

On May 11, 2018, Syfy did not purchase the rights for future seasons because of restrictive distribution arrangements, and announced it was cancelled. Alcon looked for other channels to distribute future seasons.
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. Celebrities including Wil Wheaton, George R. R. Martin, Patton Oswalt and Andreas Mogensen supported the campaign.
On May 26, at the International Space Development Conference, Jeff Bezos announced that Amazon picked the series up for additional seasons. Production on the fourth season began in October 2018 and debuted on Amazon Prime Video on December 12, 2019. On July 27, Amazon renewed The Expanse for a fifth season.

Music

The show's soundtrack was composed by Clinton Shorter.
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, and on May 26, 2016, via Amazon.

Genre and themes

The series has been described as a space opera by critics. 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". Vice has referred to the series as a "sci fi noir mystery-thriller" and as hard science fiction. Prior to the series premiere, Mark Fergus spoke of the series' 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." The fourth season, according to the writers, also has "space western vibes".

Release

In the United States, seasons 1 to 3 of The Expanse were broadcast by Syfy and streamed on Prime Video. In Canada, these seasons aired on Space and streamed on Crave. In New Zealand, these seasons aired on Sky. In all other countries where Netflix is available, seasons 1 and 2 were streamed until September 30, 2018. On February 8, 2019, Prime Video took over exclusive distribution of the first three seasons worldwide in preparation for its premiere of the fourth season later in the year.

Reception

Critical response

Season 1

On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season has a score of 77% with an average rating of 7.12 out of 10 based on 43 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." The first season received a rating of 65 out of 100 on Metacritic based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Reporting on the pilot screening, io9s 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". 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.
Writing for Variety, Maureen Ryan was unimpressed by the first four episodes "awkwardly linking a series of somewhat muddled stories" and the series' stereotypical characters but credited it with tackling "issues of class, representation and exploitation" and a convincing design. At Tor.com, Justin Landon highlighted The Expanses "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.

Season 2

On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has a score of 95% with an average rating of 8.95 out of 10 based on 21 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Expanses second season offers more of the show's excellent signature production values while increasing character development and politically thrilling narratives." On Metacritic, it has a score of 77 out of 100 based on 5 reviews.
Writing for io9, Katherine Trendacosta noted how the show had become "shockingly prescient", insofar as many of the issues and ideas explored by The Expanse mirrored contemporary trends in global politics. Brian Tallerico, in "Why The Expanse Is the Best Sci-FI TV Show You're Not Watching" for Rolling Stone, praised the show for its contemporary political relevance and called its willingness to mix tones, and its protagonists, laudable. He summarized that at its core, The Expanse was all about people responding to fear – fear of the other, fear of the new, fear of inequality, fear of death. Writing for 13.7: Cosmos & Culture, a blog hosted by NPR, astrophysicist Adam Frank praised the show and its writers for the scientific realism. He wrote that "more than any other TV space-themed show, it gets the science right".

Season 3

On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has a score of 100% with an average rating of 8.57 out of 10 based on 25 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Building on earlier potential and extending character arcs throughout a solidly crafted third season, The Expanse continues to impress – and shows no signs of abating."

Season 4

On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has a score of 100% with an average rating of 8.97 out of 10 based on 28 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Smart and thrilling as ever, The Expanses fourth season doesn't miss a beat, successfully navigating network changes without losing any of its rich character work or narrative complexities." Writing for Den of Geek, Michael Ahr gave it a 5/5 review and wrote, "With its brilliantly crafted, multilayered plot, The Expanse season 4 proves itself worthy of Amazon's rescue in a nearly perfect season." Sadie Gennis of TV Guide also praised the fourth season, giving it a score of 4.5/5.

Ratings

Accolades