There are few things sadder than canceling a favorite show. However, there are few things more illogical than canceling a show that has 100 % Rotten Tomatoes rating from both critics and audience. I was shocked by the news, but after a while, when news started to flow, I understood the reasoning behind the decision. SyFy just wasn’t getting enough money to keep the “Expanse” on the air. They alone are to blame since they didn’t seem to be farsighted enough to buy streaming rights for the series and live revenue alone wasn’t enough to justify the expenses for the show that big. Alcon, the main producer of the series, is now in the tight spot. Finding a new home for the show such as “Expanse” isn’t an easy task. Their decision to sell streaming rights to both Amazon (US) and Netflix (international) doesn’t make it any easier. But, here are few reasons why the “Expanse” should be renewed and why some more ambitious streaming platform should pick it up.
First of all, the Expanse novel series is one of the most fruitful series in the genre and there is enough material for the next four or five years. While having that in mind, it’s useful to know that the plot is often described as “the GOT in space” for its characteristic intrigues and subplots. Expanse series are also deeply allegoric about the society and the world we all are living in. That allegory is obvious in the antagonists of the first few novels when their ruthless ambition and greed are used as plot devices to push the story forward. At the beginning of the series Earth, Mars and Belters are in a stalemate, the state as close to the Cold War as possible but the appearance of the new and unfamiliar threat made the fragile peace very hard to maintain. In the middle, between the all intergalactic tensions, there is a small ice-freighter crew formed from all interested parties which are just trying to survive.
The show captured the main motives of the books, and it also succeeded in depicting very different life conditions for Earthers, Martians and Belters. “Expanse” is one of the few shows on TV that is able to show differences in pressure and gravity between the planet as important, brutal and disturbingly accurate.
“Expanse” is also what we know as “hard-SF”, a slow-burning story with many interesting parts moving to form a grander picture at the end of the season. The conclusion of each storyline is hard to predict and the viewers were often surprised with the endings for some storylines and characters, respectively. When “Expanse” went to its second season I thought that the patience will be the key for the big payoffs in the future. Shows like that aren’t made on cable TV. In modern times shows like that are reserved for the streaming services as Amazon or Netflix because of their ability to make shows intended for binge-watching: we’ll put out whole season at once style.
That’s one of the biggest reasons why “Expanse” must be picked up. Payoff time just started in season three, and many plot-threads opened in the first two seasons are now starting to make sense. Problem is, on the cable TV, you don’t have time for that kind of patience. If your viewers are caught in the story – fine. If not, the show will get the axe no matter how good it is. “Firefly” was canceled for the same reason. “Expanse” now suffered the same fate.
Last news available from the official channels and crewmembers is that Netflix passed on the opportunity. Amazon is now the target of the renewal hype, since its on the verge of accepting, in some very original ways too:
I can only join the fight and once again say:
Not only because the fans want it to live. It will also be a good business decision in the first place.
Screen Blabs 