Amazon renews The Expanse for a sixth (and final) season

Cast member Cas Anvar, who was accused of sexual harassment and assault, will not be returning for the sixth and final season of The Expanse.

The Expanse hasn’t always had the easiest time of it, but it’s beaten the odds. The sci-fi thriller, set in a politically tempestuous future where humanity has colonized both Mars and asteroid belt, started out on SyFy back in 2015. The cable network cancelled the series after three season, but Amazon picked it up and kept going, airing a fourth season last year with a fifth just around the corner.

Now, the show has confirmed that it’s coming back for a sixth season, which is great! But Deadline reports that the sixth season will be its last, which is less great.

“From the moment we committed to bringing this show to life up until this final season, we have worked tirelessly to honor the vision of the writers,” said executive producers Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson. “We have prided ourselves on having one of the most diverse casts on television and giving a platform to stories that matter.”

"A special thanks to Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, the writers of both the books and series, and to Naren Shankar, the series showrunner and Executive Producer. It continues to be an honor and privilege to work with this team. We also would like to thank Amazon for their continuing support to help us tell this story in its fullest and to bring The Expanse to a global audience.”"

Speaking of The Expanse book series by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (who write it under the joint pen name of James S. A. Corey), this news does raise some questions. At the moment, there are eight Expanse books on shelves, with a ninth and final book — Leviathan Falls — on the way in 2021. So far, each season of The Expanse has adapted roughly one of Corey’s books, with season 5 set to cover the events of book 5, Nemesis Games. But then there are four more books after that. Will season 6 just cover the events of book 6, Babylon’s Ashes, and call it a day? Will it adapt all four of the remaining books? Something in between?

That’s a question for another time, I guess. More immediately, Deadline reveals that star Cas Anvar, who played Martain pilot Alex Kamal, will not be returning for the sixth season. Earlier this year, The Expanse’s production company initiated an investigation into Anvar after he was accused of abusing his position to coerce women, some of them underage, into sexual situations, and of abusing women, sometimes at fan conventions. The cast and crew, including Anvar himself, all said they were taking the investigation seriously.

We don’t know exactly what that investigation found, but if Anvar isn’t returning for season 6, you can draw your own implications.

The Expanse season 5 premieres on Amazon on December 16, with the first three episodes dropping all at once and the rest coming out one per week.

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