All 6 Seasons Of This Space Opera Are Perfect From Start To Finish

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Despite lasting six seasons, The Expanse consistently delivered high quality – there wasn’t a single weak season. The show, which ran from 2015 to 2022 and totaled 62 episodes, was adapted from the novel series of the same name by James S.A. Corey.

In the future, humans have spread throughout our solar system, but tensions run high between the Martian government and the combined forces of Earth and Luna. The story of The Expanse begins with detective Josephus, ship captain James Holden, and UN official Chrisjen Avasarala uncovering a dangerous conspiracy.

While the first season of The Expanse starts out feeling like a futuristic, spaceship-based mystery with noir elements, the show quickly expands beyond that. As the series progresses, it shifts its focus to the wider political landscape and different parts of the colonized solar system.

The Expanse Has No Bad Seasons

As a huge fan of The Expanse, I always appreciated how it used its sci-fi world to explore real-world issues like politics and the impact of colonization. Because of this, each season brought in a ton of new faces. While Chrisjen and Holden really drove the first season, it was characters like Holden, Naomi, Amos, and Alex who ultimately became the heart of the whole story, and I really connected with them.

Luckily, this didn’t damage the show’s overall quality. In fact, each season of The Expanse offers something different, whether it’s the mystery-solving in season one or the exploration of a new alien world in season four. The story and mood of the show change depending on the season’s focus.

By season five, the crew is scattered, and the story focuses on three separate groups: Amos investigating Baltimore, Naomi looking for Filip, and Marco’s Free Navy attempting to control the entire solar system. This season’s complex plot weaves these stories together, creating a much more intricate narrative than the first season’s simpler approach.

The second season also benefited from the introduction of Camina Drummer, a character who quickly became central to the story of The Expanse and helped expand the show’s scope. Alongside continuing Miller’s storyline, the season also began to develop other key characters who would play important roles in future seasons, ultimately living up to the show’s name.

The Expanse Does Start Off Slow

Image courtesy of Everett Collection

Initially, The Expanse started slowly and was relatively simple. But with each new season, the show grew in scope and complexity. While the first season was less intricate than later ones, it was still a strong introduction. Season 1 managed to be complex enough to lay a solid foundation without overwhelming viewers who weren’t already familiar with the genre.

The relationship between Holden and Chrisjen cleverly introduces the complex world and underlying mystery of the show without overwhelming viewers. The first season unfolds at a deliberate pace, seamlessly weaving in backstory as audiences become invested in the main plot. This is different from shows like The Peripheral, which can leave viewers lost, as The Expanse provides a solid foundation from the start.

The intricate conspiracy the characters uncover makes them re-evaluate the solar system’s political landscape, and allows the show to thoroughly explain how it all works and its history. Once the mystery is resolved, viewers become invested in what happens next, giving the show room to explore bigger storylines and expand its scope.

As a huge fan, I was a little worried going into season 2 of The Expanse with all the new characters and political groups they introduced. But honestly, it felt totally organic – like a natural step forward from everything we saw in season 1. What’s really smart is that they didn’t just drop the conspiracy from the first season; it continues to ripple through the story, making everything feel connected and important. It never feels like filler, which I really appreciate.

The Expanse Is Worth The 6-Season Ride

Image courtesy of Everett Collection

Overall, this is perhaps the biggest success of the entire series. While The Expanse has a complex story and revisiting it reveals some storylines didn’t quite land, the show consistently managed to feel realistic and believable throughout its six seasons.

Many book-to-TV adaptations struggle to appeal to viewers who haven’t read the original novels, and The Expanse risked falling into that trap. However, unlike earlier adaptations that favored straightforward, self-contained episodes, The Expanse embraced complexity, a trend that began after the success of Game of Thrones convinced TV networks to take more risks with intricate storylines.

Luckily, The Expanse skillfully balanced its increasingly complicated plots and large number of characters, while still keeping the story easy to follow and the central conflicts understandable. Many other sci-fi shows have shown how difficult that is to achieve.

Thanks to its success, The Expanse showed that large-scale science fiction series could successfully shift focus from story to story without losing their audience. This paved the way for popular shows like Silo and Foundation, establishing The Expanse as a truly important sci-fi series of the last two decades.

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2026-02-17 00:41