![]() ![]() That’s where The Expanse thrives, extrapolating the flaws of our present world into the high-flying intergalactic mayhem of the future. These thematic and political underpinnings are at once in-your-face and deceptively sly The Expanse knows exactly what it’s doing with its intriguing future world. In the six episodes provided to critics, The Expanse finds space-age analogues for everything from the refugee crisis to welfare (Avasarala’s political opponent opens up questions about the fairness of the universal basic income system) to the struggles of the working class to adjust to globalization. ![]() In response, Avasarala sends James Holden ( Steven Strait) and the crew of the Rocinante to Ilus/New Terra, both to calm down both sides of the conflict and to find out exactly what the protomolecule is doing there and stop it.īut just as humanity leaves the solar system, our deep, systemic problems (poverty, class, politics, and distrust) come along for the ride. UN Secretary-General Chrisjen Avasarala ( Shohreh Aghdashloo, all piss, vinegar, and beautifully ornate sarees) struggles to keep the system from collapsing under all this demand, while Belters Camina Drummer ( Cara Gee) and Klaes Ashford ( David Strathairn) play intergalactic police near the Ring.Īnd meanwhile, tensions are rising on an alien world newly colonized by both Belters and Earthers (the Belters call it Ilus, the Earthers call it New Terra), which is itself showing traces of the deadly, mysterious protomolecule. That’s certainly true for former Martian Marine Bobbie Draper ( Frankie Adams), now working as a dockworker on Mars, breaking down old Martian warships now that the dream of terraforming the planet has been moved to the back burner. Everyone’s worlds and priorities have changed, and some resent the Ring pulling people away from old goals and missions. ![]() Season 4 picks up a few months later, with the entire solar system in the midst of a new Gold Rush: hundreds of ships wait in line to pass through the Ring to stake their claim on new fortunes, and an uneasy truce prevails between Earth, Mars, and the Belt. (Amazon Prime Video)Īt the end of season 3, humanity unlocked the secrets to a mysterious alien ring just outside Uranus, granting them quick and easy passage to hundreds of uncharted, uninhabited worlds rife for colonization and exploration. Shohreh Aghdashloo’s Christen Avasarala in “The Expanse”. Think Game of Thrones, but in space, and with a lot more tattoos and space Creole. There’s no warp speed and no aliens (though a blue alien goo called the protomolecule is central to the plot), and space travel and combat is as realistic as you can get while still maintaining a sense of excitement and pace. Humanity’s split into factions: the powerful but bloated denizens of Earth, the fiercely independent settlers of Mars, and the working-class scrubs who work and toil in the zero-g atmosphere of the asteroid belt, known as Belters. Corey, depicting a solar system 2-300 years in our future. Now, we’ve got our first taste of what the show’s tenure will look like under the watchful eye of Bezos, and I gotta say, things are looking up.Ī quick primer for those inyalowda new to the show: The Expanse is based on a series of sci-fi novels from two authors who go by the pseudonym James S.A. Luckily, it worked, and Amazon picked up the show for a fourth (and confirmed fifth) season. ![]() They even flew a model of the show’s hero ship, the Rocinante, into the atmosphere as a publicity stunt. They flew #SaveTheExpanse banners over Amazon headquarters. The science fiction series The Expanse might well be one of the biggest success stories of this kind of guerilla fan campaign after hearing of its cancellation by Syfy in 2018, a group of dedicated fans (who dubbed themselves the Screaming Firehawks) immediately launched a campaign to save the show, either at Syfy or somewhere else. It happened with Brooklyn Nine-Nine and One Day at a Time, both critically-acclaimed shows whose followings posted ad nauseam and shared hashtags until new networks picked them up. If the last couple of years have taught us anything, it’s that social media and a rabid fanbase can save underappreciated shows from the jaws of network death and give them brand new life. We’re living in the age of the fan: Internet hype and campaigns can do more than just raise awareness now, they can move figurative mountains. The cult-hit space opera heads to Amazon for a bigger budget, wider scope, and a renewed sense of purpose. ![]()
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