Few TV sci-fi adaptations manage to render their story worlds onscreen in a way that’s fully satisfying, but The Expanse is certainly one of them. This immersive and beautifully realized space opera is a rare example of advances in motion-picture technology elevating a work of fiction that’s already compelling and on its own terms.
Based on the novel series by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (under the pseudonym James S. A. Corey), The Expanse tells the story of humanity’s geopolitical expansion across the Solar System, 300 years into the future. For many fans and critics, it’s the best sci-fi show of the past two decades.
Either way, there’s no doubting its status as an all-time great. Among the handful of sci-fi shows that do even better than the movies at portraying a coherent and convincing account of speculative extraterrestrial societies, The Expanse is the most grounded, most modern, and best produced. In both narrative and stylistic terms, the series is virtually flawless.
The Expanse Was Made For Sci-Fi Fans
There’s a reason why space opera fans are still discovering The Expanse four years after it ended, even though the series hasn’t anything like the cultural exposure of earlier TV franchises like Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica. Unapologetic about its target audience, the show fully immerses us in the intricacies of interplanetary warfare.
It feels as though The Expanse was created specifically with TV sci-fi fans in mind. The series blends cutting-edge production with stylistic homages to genre tropes of old, and goes as far as possible to honor what’s written on the pages of its source material.
Precisely because it stays true to its principles, The Expanse is consistently a work of the highest quality across six seasons of television. At no point does the show go for effect over substance, meaning that all its most dramatic moments arise from organic character development, expert worldbuilding, and peerless storytelling.
The Expanse Feels Like Old Science Fiction
The best sci-fi show on Prime Video, in a sense The Expanse feels like it belongs to a bygone era, when series in the genre prioritized building extensive yet cohesive, self-contained TV universes over spectacular action sequences. That isn’t to say the show is short on dazzling set pieces, either.
The space battle between Rocinante and Zmeya in season 5 of The Expanse is among the most exhilarating pieces of television in any genre. This scene is the perfect example of the show utilizing the latest CGI graphics, visuals and audio effects, as well as some sublime editing skills, to create breathtaking science fiction drama.
Does The Expanse Have A Satisfying Ending?
If there can be any criticism of The Expanse at all, then it’s surely related to how the show ends. As a consequence of low ratings and budget cuts, Prime Video effectively forced showrunners Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby and Naren Shankar to make season 6 its last.
Therefore, the show concludes before the events of the final three novels in James S. A. Corey’s series. Season 6 itself is also truncated, resulting in unresolved plot points and incomplete character arcs, most notably for Filip Inaros and the Rocinante crew.
Fans are still holding out hope that The Expanse’s story can continue in some form, perhaps with a sequel movie. At the same time, the show ends at a point in the overarching narrative which makes a certain amount of sense as a climactic finale.
Given that Prime Video wasn’t willing to invest in adapting the remaining three books of The Expanse series, finishing with the defeat of Marco Inaros seems to have been the best option available. What’s more, the TV narrative stops just before a dramatic time jump in Corey’s novels, averting the possibility of a cliffhanger ending further down the line.