‘The Expanse’ at 10: the outer space drama that should have been as big as ‘Game of Thrones’

In the first episode of “The Expanse” (which debuted 10 years ago this weekend), a spaceship makes the biggest meal of changing direction since Austin Powers attempted an [insert very big number]-point turn in the bowels of Dr Evil’s secret volcano lair.

The Canterbury, the vast ice hauler that’s home to several of the show’s leads, needs to investigate a distress beacon, so it initiates a “flip and burn” maneuver. This requires the entire crew to strap themselves into bespoke chairs, bite down on special mouth guards, and inject themselves with a cocktail of drugs that will help them withstand the intense g-forces generated by the ship’s abrupt 180 and subsequent deceleration. The message is clear: travelling through space in “The Expanse”‘s version of the future is hard. Really hard.

Because — although the show is set in a similar 24th-century time period to “Star Trek: The Next Generation” — you won’t find any transporters, warp drives, or casual tête-à-têtes with alien species here. The human race has made it to outer space in large numbers, but we’re still confined to our own Solar System. Forget vast Federations of peace-loving planets — in “The Expanse”, it turns out we can’t even get on with each other, as an opening caption reveals that Earth, Mars, and the residents of the asteroid belt stand on the precipice of war.

Just to accentuate those anti-“Trek” credentials, debut episode “Dulcinea” features: a zero-g sex scene being brought to an abrupt halt by the ship’s gravity being switched on; an executive officer (played, in the briefest of cameos, by “Breaking Bad”‘s Jonathan Banks) having a breakdown; and two key characters torturing prisoners for information. Oh, and by the time the closing credits roll, the aforementioned good-ship Canterbury has been comprehensively, unambiguously destroyed — along with most of its 50-strong crew — by forces unknown.

Much like Bran Stark’s infamous defenestration in “Game of Thrones”‘ pilot episode, “The Expanse”‘s season one opener wastes little time setting out its stall as a show where standard rules no longer apply. Some critics even described it as “‘Game of Thrones’ in space”, a reference to “The Expanse”‘s multiple narratives, complex political machinations, and penchant for making bad things happen to good people — albeit with fewer castles and dragons.

Although it never captured the zeitgeist like George RR Martin’s profitable jaunt to Westeros, “The Expanse” deserved to be the subject of just as many watercooler conversations. Like “Battlestar Galactica” and “Andor“, this was a show that transcended its space opera roots to say plenty about the real world, without ever forgetting that spaceships are cool.

The show landed in a TV space-opera landscape very different from today’s. Following “Stargate: Universe”‘s 2011 cancellation, broadcasters put interplanetary travel on a brief hiatus. “The Expanse” (which originally aired on Syfy in the US) was part of a mini 2015 revival, along with “Dark Matter” and “Killjoys”.

Crucially, these network/cable shows arrived just before streaming went supernova, expanding budgets to the extent that “Foundation” and the numerous “Star Wars”/”Star Trek” spin-offs became indistinguishable from movies.

A decade on, “The Expanse”‘s early seasons almost look quaint compared to what’s now the industry standard — as impressive as the visual effects are, they still require the once-standard “…for TV” caveat. The cast is also light on stars, the biggest name on the bill being former “The Punisher”, “The Mist” and “Hung” star Thomas Jane, as private detective Joe Miller. Quality character actors did turn up in guest or recurring roles throughout the show’s run, though, from the aforementioned Banks to Jared Harris (“Chernobyl”) and David Strathairn (“Good Night, and Good Luck”).

Despite this, “The Expanse” was never less than ambitious, and the dense opening episode sets up numerous key plotlines that would go on to form the cornerstones of the opening three seasons — and beyond.

The bickering survivors of the Canterbury, led by reluctant captain Jim Holden (Steven Strait), become an unlikely band of freedom fighters/kingmakers after commandeering a Martian warship and rebranding it as the Rocinante (named after Don Quixote’s horse). Meanwhile, the Belter residents of strategically important dwarf planet Ceres — and their political representation at the militant OPA (Outer Planets Alliance) — are angling for independence from Earth and Mars. “They built their solar system on our backs,” an OPA representative reasons in the first episode.

And then there’s Miller’s investigation into the disappearance of wealthy heiress Julie Mao (Florence Faivre), which develops into a dangerous obsession as he learns about her connection to a mysterious “protomolecule” of unknown alien origin that, if unleashed, could threaten all life as we know it.

But the most interesting character by a distance is Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo), a leading United Nations official who represents Earth’s interests throughout the oncoming storm. One of her first acts is sanctioning the “gravity torture” of a suspected OPA operative — for someone whose physiology is geared to low-gravity environments, being on Earth is hell. She’s no villain, however, more a morally ambiguous politician who’s prepared to do whatever it takes if she believes it’s in Earth’s best interests. Chrisjen’s unknowability is her super-strength.

As in “Babylon 5” (another sci-fi classic feels like a key influence on “The Expanse”), multiple plotlines interweave, moving in and out of the foreground as the key players negotiate a Solar System that’s evolving too fast for anyone to keep up with. The world-building is also impeccable, from the inconveniences of physics-accurate space flight (g-forces, epic travel times, complex orbital trajectories) to the creation of a fully-formed Belter culture with its own slang and characteristic tattoos.

And yet “The Expanse” always faced bigger problems than bickering Earthers, Martians, and Belters. Its ratings were distinctly ordinary from the start and — despite plenty of positive reviews — declined as the show progressed. Syfy made the decision to cancel the show after three seasons.

It wasn’t the end, however, as a passionate fanbase mounted a campaign to resurrect the series. An online petition gathered more than 100,000 signatories, while celebrity fans including Wil Wheaton, George RR Martin, and Patton Oswalt voiced their support. But one celebrity fan — a billionaire named Jeff Bezos — proved to be the most pivotal of them all, as Amazon stepped in to ensure the series lived on for three more years. “The show is extraordinary, and these guys are unbelievably talented,” said Bezos when “The Expanse”‘s survival was confirmed.

The show wrapped with the conclusion of its truncated sixth season in January 2022, but that’s not necessarily where the story ends. Unlike “Game of Thrones”, “The Expanse” never overtook the source novels that inspired it, and there are still three more books in the James SA Corey (a pseudonym for co-authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) saga waiting to be adapted.

Given the show’s failure to catch fire in the audience ratings, it seems unlikely we’ll be going back to this multi-layered vision of humanity’s future any time soon (on TV, at least), but with the seventh novel, “Persepolis Rising”, taking place decades after its predecessor, “Babylon’s Ashes”, we can always hope.

As Abraham told io9 before the final season aired, “As we always say, there are three more books. There’s a lot more story to tell. Big world! Things could happen.” And if not? Well, we can always go back and rewatch a space opera classic that deserved to be talked about as much as Westeros.

“The Expanse” is available to stream on Prime Video.

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