The Expanse is go for one last launch! Rocinante and crew cleared for Season 6 finale

So Belter-boosters, do you want the good news first or the bad? Since we’re optimists around here, let’s start with Amazon’s exciting announcement today that The Expanse, one of TV’s premiere sci-fi shows portraying a future colonized Solar System, has been cleared for takeoff on a sixth season. The bad: well, Season 6 will officially be its last (at least from Amazon).

Via a press release, the news comes just a few weeks ahead of the hotly anticipated Season 5 debut in mid-December. Deadline “hears” that shooting for the final season of the Hugo Award-winning series based on the James S.A. Corey (aka Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) novels and novellas will begin shooting the final season on Jan 20, pandemic permitting.

Most of the series regulars including Steven Strait (“Holden”) and showrunner Naren Shankar are officially set to return. Alas, original cast member Cas Anvar ("Alex Kamal" will no longer be piloting the Rocinante as he won’t be appearing in the final season, presumably because, as Deadline notes, he faced "a slew of sexual misconduct allegations" this past summer, which led to an independent investigation and apparently his removal).

That said, the show has plenty of other talented folks in front of and behind the camera. 

"The dedication and artistry of everyone who helps bring The Expanse to the screen is incredible,” said Shankar in a statement. “Our fans are awesome, and we cannot wait to get rolling on Season Six!”

“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. We have prided ourselves on having one of the most diverse casts on television and giving a platform to stories that matter,” stated Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson, Co-CEOs and Co-Founders of Alcon Television Group, and executive producers of The Expanse.

As far as Season 5 goes, fans have been waiting eagerly to find out the fate of Earth after 
Marco Inaros (Keon Alexander), the leader of a radicalized faction of the OPA, fired a bunch of asteroids its way in last season’s finale. We also have plenty of unfinished business to look forward to from the likes of Holden, Alex, Naomi Nagata (Dominique Tipper), Bobbie Draper (Frankie Adams), Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo), Camina Drummer (Cara Gee), Fred Johnson (Chad L. Coleman), and everyone's favorite mechanic, Amos Burton (Wes Chatham). The season reportedly mostly draws from Nemesis Games, Book 5 in the James S. A. Corey series. 

No word yet on which books the final season will dip into, but they'll have some sorting out to do, as there are currently eight novels and eight shorter works that make up the popular series.

Season 5 of The Expanse launches its first three episodes Dec. 16 on Amazon Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories around the world. After that, new shows will appear on the streamer weekly through Feb. 3, 2021.