This past Friday, the sixth season of The Expanse came to an end on Amazon Prime Video. The finale, “Babylon’s Ashes,” was excellent, but it didn’t answer every question fans had about the series. What was up with the alien dogs who could bring people back to life on Laconia?
Those questions are answered in The Expanse novels by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who write together under the name James S.A. Corey. The show adapted the first six, but there are nine in all. And yet “Babylon’s Ashes” has been sold as the series finale, and the final episode of The Expanse that will air on Amazon.
So what’s the deal? Will the show just stop here even though there’s more source material to adapt? The official word is that the show is over, but things can change…
The Expanse may be revived again for season 7
Before The Expanse aired its most recent three seasons on Amazon, its first three ran on SyFy, so the show has been in a situation before where it was cancelled only to be resurrected elsewhere. Speaking to Polygon in 2020, Franck said that “Babylon’s Ashes” could serve as an endpoint for the series, but hinted that more could still be on the way.
“We have what we think is a very natural pause point for the story after season 6,” Franck said. “It’ll feel like a satisfying end to the story we’ve been building over the first five seasons. I think one of the things that is sort of an outmoded idea is the idea of being canceled.”
Indeed, we’ve seen lots of shows bounce back after being cancelled, from Arrested Development to The Expanse itself. And according to Franck, producer Alcon Television Group is “very committed to the IP.”
So will The Expanse be back? It’s going to pause for a beat, at the least. But I wouldn’t be surprised if we eventually got a final three seasons to round out the story. Maybe on Netflix? HBO Max? Apple TV+? There are lots of options. There’s a time jump between the end of the sixth book in the series and the start of the seventh, so a break could feel natural.
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