The Expanse season 5 is the most “personal and epic” yet

The penultimate season of The Expanse is just around the corner, and it sounds like it’s going to ratchet up the stakes before the final episodes.

As we learned just a week back, there are only two seasons of The Expanse left: the upcoming fifth season and a sixth season to end it all. The fifth season is based on the fifth book in the series, Nemesis Games…but after that there are still four books left and only one season to cover them; still unsure how that’s going to work.

For now, we pick things up where season 4 left them, with Belter terrorist Marco Inaros (Keon Alexander) sending a fleet of asteroids hurtling towards Earth. “It takes rocks a while to cover that distance,” showrunner Naren Shankar told SFX magazine. “The events early on in season five occur under a shadow of mounting dread. The dread is really from the audience’s perspective, because they know what’s coming. At the end of season four, nobody knows that those rocks are out there. Nobody knows what Marco is doing. Nobody knows what has happened. Take that idea and run with it. Now, how that comes to fruition, or not – the consequences of it – is all the material of season five.”

Hopefully our heroes aboard the Rocinante find out about it soon, because they could all be in danger. Season 5 will see them split off to take care of their own business, with Amos Burton (Wes Chatham) actually heading to Earth. What can we say except…duck!

Martain pilot Alex Kamal will also be going on his own journey in season 5, but he won’t return for season 6 following allegations of sexual misconduct on the part of actor Cas Anvar. So season 5 will be the final time we see the crew of the Roci all together, and Shankar promises the most “personal and epic season” yet.

"It’s something the show has done consistently over the years. It has this unique balance of the high-epic, grand geopolitical storyline. But it’s always refracted through very personal, boots-on-the-ground individual characters. This season, that balance just seemed to hit a beautiful, sweet spot."

Naomi’s (Dominique Tipper) private journey has to do with her past relationship with Marco — they have a son together — which will surely prove crucial.

The first three episodes of The Expanse season 5 drop on December 16, with new episodes being released at a rate of one per week thereafter.

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h/t Games Radar