After six successful seasons, The Expanse was canceled by Amazon. Fortunately that doesn't mean we will never find out what a season 7 of The Expanse would have offered. Here's how the story would have continued.
The Expanse has been one of Amazon Prime's most successful releases, being widely regarded as one of the most realistic Sci-Fi shows out there. So far there have been 6 seasons, which begs the question, can we expect a season 7?
For those of you who don't know (highly unlikely because you probably have seen the first six seasons if you googled this), the show is set hundreds of years in the future. Elon Musk was apparently successful in colonizing Mars and other parts of the solar system. The problem is, tensions are high, and the different planets are always at the brink of war.
- If you want to catch up on the lore, or read the books as there might not be a season 7, you can buy the whole collection here.
The Expanse has been well-beloved ever since the first season aired in 2015, which begs the question of why there is no release date for season 7, almost a year after season 6 ended?
The Expanse Season 7 Is Unlikely To Happen And Here's Why
The issue is that after six successful seasons, The Expanse has been cancelled.
Actually it isn't the first time the beloved show "ended". Originally, The Expanse aired on SyFy, but was axed following season 3. Amazon then rescued the franchise, but also shut it down following season 6.
As to why, showrunner Naren Shankar talked about this in his interview with Gizmodo: "I feel like we got great support at Amazon and Alcon to get the show to the end of book six, which was always, you know, a possibility that that was going to be an ending of the show because there’s a satisfying conclusion at that point."
When asked about the possibility of another revival of the franchise in an interview with EW Shankar responded by saying: "Right now, the future really lies with Alcon Television, which is the studio that makes the show, and Amazon, if there is in some form, an appetite for more".
Well, actually there are two important aspects here. Yes, the season's ending is really made in a way that it could well work as the whole series' ending. But besides that, the series generally sticks quite close to what happens in the books – and in the books, there's a big time jump of 30 years at the point where season 6 ended.
It would probably be quite challenging to change basically everything and everyone from The Expanse in a way that it looks like 30 years have passed, so this could also be a big reason for the producers to rather go for a clean break than for a possibly unconvincing sequel.
How The Expanse Would Have Continued After Season 7
It seems like Shankar, as well as producer Ty Franck & the author of the original books Daniel Abraham would be up for it, though: “I’m certainly not betraying any confidence to say that Ty [Franck], Daniel [Abraham] and I – speaking for ourselves – would love to do it. It would be a remarkable thing to complete the whole book series that way. And I certainly hope we get to do it.”
The good thing, though, is that although the series is rather unlikely to get renewed, you can still find out how things continue in the Expanse universe. The series is based on the books, and if you want to find out what happens after season 6, you can just switch over to the books. If you want to directly continue, you should go for the sixth novel Persepolis Rising.
The Expanse: Alternatives
If you're looking for a sci-fi series similar to The Expanse, we can strongly recommend Battlestar Galactica to you. The space opera TV series aired from 2004 to 2009, starting as a miniseries in 2003. It follows a fleet of approximately 50,000 humans fleeing their twelve home planets after almost being wiped out by their own robot creations, the Cylons. Led by the last surviving warship, the Battlestar Galactica, they embark on a quest to find a new home known as Earth.
Throughout its four seasons, Battlestar Galactica explores the tense struggle for survival between humans and Cylons, blurring the lines of friendship, humanity, and artificial intelligence. The show delves into themes of faith, politics, and the complex relationship between humanity and technology. Action-packed space battles and intricate character relationships add depth to this award-winning series, widely regarded as one of the greatest sci-fi shows ever created.
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