The showrunner is on the record saying he has no intention of rushing content into season 6 from books 7-9.
See my post above yours for why most fans are relatively hopeful that 7-9 will eventually be adapted to some extent or another.
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The Expanse Season 5 |OT| Last Man Standing
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The showrunner is on the record saying he has no intention of rushing content into season 6 from books 7-9.
See my post above yours for why most fans are relatively hopeful that 7-9 will eventually be adapted to some extent or another.
That brings me some hope but also seems potentially disappointing. The show's quality is so high that seeing the climax of the story suddenly shift to comics or something would actually be depressing IMO. Better than nothing, for sure, but very strange seeing that it should in theory have all the money in the world behind it with Bezos' interested.
DEFINITELY hyped (but will remain cautiously optimistic) for what was mentioned about the potential for "features" though...
Yeah, I strongly doubt the comics and whatever would be the medium utilized for the latter novels. There's smoke here; I totally respect your caution because it's best not to get burned, but there's fire here as well.
Back when the announcement about a final season was made, a good number of us tweeted The Expanse's writing team's main account. They rather cheekily concurred with notions of continuations; my own post was met with a particular degree of agreement. Now that Alcon's top dogs are talking about how to move forward and mentioning features, and that the show goes back to them in full in a few years, I don't know — it feels good, ha.
Also, for what it's worth, Book 6 is a good temporary stopping point. Better here than any other season. But it will certainly leave the door open for a fair bit, none of which is likely to be compressed to death in season 6. Without getting into spoilers, it's difficult to articulate quite why this is an almost ironically apt place to (hopefully just) pause.
I enjoyed the season. I haven't read the books, but my main gripe with it was that I think the strength of the show has often been the dynamics within the Rocinante crew, and splitting them up for basically the entire season isn't playing to the show's strengths. Of the four I think only Amos had a storyline that was engaging throughout, with Holden's role being somewhat minimized and the pacing of Naomi's faltering by the end (props to the supporting characters in Holden's corner of this season though, Bull and Monica were great). Beyond the crew I enjoyed Drummer's and Avasarala's storylines.
I like the potential for new Roci dynamics now that Alex is offed and maybe even an expanded crew for a bit. I expect Bull and Clarissa to be around for at least a little, and if Monica sticks around some I think she can serve as a good foil for the rest of the crew. Nobody else quite has her viewpoint.
I like the potential for new Roci dynamics now that Alex is offed and maybe even an expanded crew for a bit. I expect Bull and Clarissa to be around for at least a little, and if Monica sticks around some I think she can serve as a good foil for the rest of the crew. Nobody else quite has her viewpoint.
I'd expect that at least part of the decision is due to simple time. The Expanse has been going now for nearly 7 years (counting from announcement to today). Once season 6 is finished and aired and all the post-production commitments are done, it'll be 8 years (maybe more). Another 3 seasons would push it up to 11+. That'd be a lot of time to ask from the whole team, but especially from the cast of actors who might increasingly feel like moving on to something else. With book six representing a good stopping point, they might have felt that leaving it there was better than trying to 9 seasons and suddenly having a major character leave (someone more important than Alex) or maybe having Amazon change their minds and cancel after season 7 or 8.
I don't think they will rush and tie up all the loose ends. The nature of the Expanse universe isn't really one of neat closure anyway (I don't even expect every single loose end to be tied up in the books). It should, however, offer a higher level of closure than season 3 (the only other season where I think the show could have finished at a point that felt like it remotely approached an ending).
Loved the finale. The way they shot the space rescue scene looked and sounded amazing. I'm happy they found a way give Alex an on-screen send-off after being forced to ditch the actor. It shocked me so much that it happened on-screen (and it was foreshadowed with the line about being juiced to the gills) so I wasn't 100% certain they reshot/CGI'd stuff until reading through this thread.
Excited for next season!
Excited for next season!
So the reason for the delay was probably all the time they had to spend blurring out the poster behind Steven Strait lol
The writer himself wrote that change. Said 1 to 1 adaptions of books to tv doesn't make for good tv.
Belters following Marco is perfectly plausible to me. He's charismatic, shows power and has a point. It certainly makes more sense to me than 70 million Americans supporting Donald Trump, but here we are.
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Now that Admiral Duarte has been named and confirmed to be in play in the TV universe.
I've always imagined a younger Edward James Olmos for that role.
I've always imagined a younger Edward James Olmos for that role.
I really hope Monicas join the crew next season. They need someone like her -- someone who never assumed to the protomolecule was destroyed and doggedly kept looking for it, someone asking how is Marco affording all those ships, what's the actual plan, why are these people doing these things. Also her scenes with the rest of the cast are just so damn fun.
I like the chemistry her character brings to the group. There's always something fun about a character from a different career path abruptly getting pulled into something utterly unlike anything they might have otherwise devoted themselves to. It's like Bobby and Avasarala.
The rest of the crew started as ship workers and privateers, but the civilian journalist from a different tier of society brings something extra.
Also Holden could use someone to be his paranoid conspiracy buddy with regarding the protomolecule.
I just found out James S A Corey is a pen name. After following that twitter account for years, I am sooo confused!! lol
The series is both, the Twitter is Ty Frank, Daniel is mostly off social media but posts on the Reddit as Daniel sometimes though.
Marco is a great villain. I can completely buy his charismatic sway, and the narcissism that fuels it. God, I want Drummer to kill him so badly.
I thought this was a fantastic season overall. There are a couple of arcs that dragged a little (Amos and Naomi survivalism) but the payoff was worth it
Interesting bro me that they sorted the characters by faction. All earthers on the Roci, belters together with and against Marco, Bobbi and Alex together.
Anyway, can't wait for the next season and perhaps I'll pick up the pace on my book reading to get there first.
That's fine but...the belt should have been incredibly angry at Marcos for killing Fred. We don't hear a peep. Hes killed off like a redshirt.
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At the end of the day, regardless of the good Fred latterly did for the Belt, he was still an Earther and the Butcher of Anderson Station. Belters don't forget that and Marco is one of their own.
As a show watcher, the show never really gives me a reason to hate Marco outside of hurling rocks at Earth, a place we rarely ever see. Like, everything he's said about the treatment of Belters by the "inners" is correct. And, once the Ring Gates were opened we saw once again Earth and Mars try and screw Belters out of a fresh start; ensuring the continuation of those on top being on top and those on bottom staying on bottom. He's able to see where this is all heading and gets out ahead, along with the Mars faction and establish themselves before Earth realizes that the entire paradigm has shifted.
Honestly, it makes Earth looks really dumb. But, I can excuse that because those on top often don't realize that they can be easily replaced. Once the Ring Gates were opened and it was discovered that thousands of habitable worlds exist, Earth's importance and power became greatly diminished. Yet, Earth never seems to even discuss this. The reason the Belt had to take shit from Earth is because all primary resources (water and food) came from Earth. They had the monopoly on those resources as being the only habitable planet, so no one could really fuck with Earth. But once the Rings opened up access to these resources, Earth's days of importance were numbered.
As a Belter, why would you really be opposed to Marco outside of his terrorist attack? Earth isn't going to give you a fair share of resources or access to habitable ring planets. Rather, they will ensure the status quo remains with you on the bottom. I'd fucking throw in with Marco too.
That's well and good, but Fred was still an important character. Yet, we see no shift in the political situation caused by his death. Sure, Belters can think that about him, but you should show that. And regardless, he was a major leader in the Belt. His assassination should create a large shockwave in regards to the balance of power within the OPA. But, we don't see that and Marco just gets to declare victory without doing any of the narrative work.
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That mainly comes down to condensing the narrative from the books into a 10 episode TV show. There is simply wasn't enough time to go into all the political machinations in the Sol system and also telling the story they wanted to tell focusing primarily on Marco, Filip and Naomi, with Amos and Clarissa's journey on Earth, Drummer's family and Holden and Monica been secondary to that.
I never liked the actor they chose for Fred, i never really bought him in the role, I just saw cutty all the time.
I really liked Fred in the book and I always imagined him more like a Jeffrey Wright type of character.
the way they did alex super unexpected, I imagine people who don't know why that happened won't get it at all. killing off a main crew character that fast.
I really liked Fred in the book and I always imagined him more like a Jeffrey Wright type of character.
the way they did alex super unexpected, I imagine people who don't know why that happened won't get it at all. killing off a main crew character that fast.
Opposite effect for me. After seeing him in the Wire long ago whenever I see him in a role I'm into it, he's ace
Oh man. Killing millions of people isn't reason to hate him? Destabilizing the only dependable source of needed resources until the exoplanets are developed?
And on a personal level, we've also seen exactly how manipulative and self-obsessed he can be, and how he's turned people against each other.
Not to mention that the Belt was probably in the best position economically and politically that it had ever been before Marco started a war, likely endangering all of that.
There are plenty of reasons to hate him, even if he has a cause (justice for belters) that's noble.
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1. Earth is not the only dependable source of needed resources as the exoplanets are already developed enough to provide resources.
2. The Belt was not in "the best position economically and politically" before the war started. The last season went into how much Belters were being shit on for just trying to immigrate to the new ring worlds, which is essentially a new Gold Rush. Had the situation continued, the Belt would once again be at the bottom as Earth and Mars gobbled up all the good Ring Worlds.
"The Belt," as a physical location is useless outside of defending the Ring Gate. The Belt doesn't support life, the Ring Worlds do so Marco naturally realized it was time for the Belt to use this opportunity to turn the power balance on its head.
I dunno about that, Belters were the most fucked by the ring gate opening up new worlds. Earth and Mars no longer needed Belters to harvest resources and most Belters could not physically live on the those new worlds. It was a death sentence for Belter culture and people.
I didn't buy him as Fred either. Tucker Smallwood was who I pictured when I read the books. (mission director from the movie Contact). If he wasn't available I would have gone with Chris Jackson (George Washington from Hamilton)
I'm gonna try to read the books this year, maybe it'll change. I know him in the role definitely made me like Johnson a lot more
Not necessarily. The new worlds may be resource-rich but it'll be years before they're self-sufficient. Belters would be uniquely suited to facilitate trade between all of these new worlds (and any support they need from Earth and Mars). Marco couldn't see that, he just saw his enemies getting to take part in a gold rush and so he lashed out rather than see how he/the Belt could take advantage of it.
Plus he's a really, really, terrible dad.
What was with the shot of Filip, in his bunk, gun resting on his knee? I assume it's fear that his father will snap and try to put him out an airlock, blaming him for what's gone wrong since he brought Naomi on board. Being ready to fight for his life if it came to that.
My issue is that, while I'm sure the books are more complex, the 10 episodes we got didn't really do anything. So, I can't exactly agree "they didn't have the time." Marco, Filip, and Naomi spent the entire season staring at each other angrily and have the same conversation. You could easily had Marcos dealing with Belter politics instead of just standing around and looking sinister. And, you don't even need to increase the budget just have him get into skype call political discussions or debates with other factions. Or just talk to other cast on his ship about the political situation.
I'm also a bit disappointed with Amos' character arc this season as he didn't seem to go through a lot of actual challenge. Like, he "grew" kind of in realizing that his family was the Rocianate. I mean, he already knew that but he saw that it was 100% true this season. But, his character wasn't really challenged. When he and Peaches/Mao kill that hoarder dude, she questions their actions. And, Amos even comments that its not something Holden would've approved and thus further pushes him to rejoin his crew since his morality is compromised.
Naturally, I figured he'd be tested repeatedly throughout the season as his morality is constantly put to the test in situations where Old Amos would see things one way, but New Amos (thanks to Holden and Naomi's guidance) might see a different way. And, with him looking to help Peaches he'd essentially be determining the fate of both their souls. Naturally, Timmy would represent "Old Amos" and the way things work whereas Amos would push back based on how he's grown through his experiences.
However while this is certainly present, its not a major conflict because Timmy is willing to accede to Amos' "softer" morality most of the time. There's never a point where Amos is really pulled between both worlds and is forced to confront his past self, so to speak, and come out the other side. Rather, they manage to leave Earth without compromising their morality and without really having to go through much personal conflict. Sure, some redshirts died along the way. But nothing that affected Amos personally.
So, that's where I take issue. The personal stories were weak and the larger political machinations were also weak for this season.
So at best Belters are ferrying cargo between planets, still under the thumb of Earth and Mars. They're still fucked, under worse terms and a ticking timer until Earth and Mars gets their own trade lines setup.
That's not to say that Belters as they are could ever truly prosper or be independent. They're a society trying to live in the most inhospitable place possible, the power dynamics are always going to be fucked. Marcos knew the ring gate would make it even more unbalanced and tried to shift it back for his own aggrandizement.
I certainly wonder if we can get a satisfying conclusion with just one season to go, but a show getting saved twiced would also be extremely rare, wouldn't it?
I'm kinda bemused upon reflection that if Holden had just listened to Bull and blown up the Belter ship with the protomolecule, instead of trying to disable/board it (which I thought was a supremely stupid plan and would probably lead to the same outcome as Ashford raiding Marco's ship with all of three people total), the grant scheme of the season and setup for the subspace aliens causing problems would have all vanished:
1. Free Navy wouldn't have gotten their MCRN ships, aside from the 'down payment' ones, and no doubt the Martian seditionists would have wanted them back (perhaps leaving some backdoors in the systems). So no real Free Navy threat anymore.
2. Earth would have been free to go full hunt on Marco. They sorta could after they were told the molecule was destroyed, but were being cautious.
3. Martian Seditionists would have lost the chance to activate the Builders' structures (only 1 known sample left after all)
4. Subspace aliens might have not gone all vaporizey on any ships, if it was the protomolecule's presence which set them off. They might not give a damn about random creatures flying through and it was just the protomolecule that caused their anger. Of course we don't know their motivations, so maybe they just hate everyone encroaching on their space.
Granted that sort of 'what if this one thing changed' applies to like every book/movie/whatever ever, otherwise storylines would be far less exciting.
1. Free Navy wouldn't have gotten their MCRN ships, aside from the 'down payment' ones, and no doubt the Martian seditionists would have wanted them back (perhaps leaving some backdoors in the systems). So no real Free Navy threat anymore.
2. Earth would have been free to go full hunt on Marco. They sorta could after they were told the molecule was destroyed, but were being cautious.
3. Martian Seditionists would have lost the chance to activate the Builders' structures (only 1 known sample left after all)
4. Subspace aliens might have not gone all vaporizey on any ships, if it was the protomolecule's presence which set them off. They might not give a damn about random creatures flying through and it was just the protomolecule that caused their anger. Of course we don't know their motivations, so maybe they just hate everyone encroaching on their space.
Granted that sort of 'what if this one thing changed' applies to like every book/movie/whatever ever, otherwise storylines would be far less exciting.
Just finished watching . My initial thoughts. Such a weird decision to honour the actor rather than the character. They could have recast Alex but they strangely went with a downbeat that kind of honoured him, and knowing what we know had the adverse affect of honouring the actor.
Having read the books and knowing when they intend to end the series it seems a bit pointless to stretch things out for another series now. With the emotional beats they went with this seems like a good point to call it a day.
Having read the books and knowing when they intend to end the series it seems a bit pointless to stretch things out for another series now. With the emotional beats they went with this seems like a good point to call it a day.
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Only his closest inner circle get glimpses of the real Marco. The general Belter population only see what he wants them to see. He's got the charisma, conviction and tactical intelligence to harness the simmering hatred in the Belters for Earth and Mars and inspire a rebellion.
They could have used some HUD overlays with the names of the ships to make things clearer... but that's not the style they choose not to use for those type of space battles on this show.
Holden never truly had a chance to destroy the protomolecule. The Roci had to close distance to fire on the Zmeya, even with torpedoes, and once it had closed the Zmeya would have fired their torpedo barrage. The protomolecule was hidden in one of the like 25 torpedoes fired and veered off while the Roci was distracted with the other 24.
I would love an Expanse game. They could make a Freelancer style game set in the home system or a Homeworld/Surviving Mars hybrid set beyond the gates.
An okay season with a brilliant finale.
I felt the season lacked the chemistry held by the rocinante crew.
I'm guessing the Alex stuff was all reshoots? It was quite jarring to see him dead, abruptly.
I wish we had more alien stuff as that was my biggest excitement by the end of season 3 and it's never been delivered on.
It's also strange to see seasons 4 and 5 have such short episode counts compared to previous seasons. Irrc the producers talked up the freedom of longer run times/ episode counts.
I felt the season lacked the chemistry held by the rocinante crew.
I'm guessing the Alex stuff was all reshoots? It was quite jarring to see him dead, abruptly.
I wish we had more alien stuff as that was my biggest excitement by the end of season 3 and it's never been delivered on.
It's also strange to see seasons 4 and 5 have such short episode counts compared to previous seasons. Irrc the producers talked up the freedom of longer run times/ episode counts.
Even better - something in the vein of Jupiter: The Nexus Incident.
You basically commanded at most 9ish capital ships and it was all very oriented around how you positioned *and* oriented your ships. 3D position was important, and you could see thrusters fire as ships rotated to line up their largest weapons with targets. Subsystem targeting was the biggest chunk of strategy - you rarely blew up ships wholesale, instead you worked to cripple their weapons or their ability to escape and could then board them with commandos. The late game had energy weapons and shields, but at the start you're in our solar system (near Jupiter, as you might expect) with Expanse level tech. Later battles involve an alien enemy somewhat akin to the Protomolecule/Builder tech. First few battles are shieldless, heavy on missiles and rail guns. It's one of those games that has demanded a sequel for ages.
The more I think about it the more perfectly it fits in my head.
Human ships even have braking thrusters:
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Just finished the season. By far the worst.
Marco sucks, Philip sucks, most other villain characters/plot lines sucked, splitting up the main characters sucked, the Call of Duty shootout scene on earth sucked, Tortured Naomi sucked, etc
The stuff that happened in the last episode of the season would have happened in like episode 3 of an earlier season. So much filler.
Marco sucks, Philip sucks, most other villain characters/plot lines sucked, splitting up the main characters sucked, the Call of Duty shootout scene on earth sucked, Tortured Naomi sucked, etc
The stuff that happened in the last episode of the season would have happened in like episode 3 of an earlier season. So much filler.
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4 and 5 have the same episode counts as 1 did, fwiw. And I don't recall the producers ever talking about freedom to make more episodes? Just episode lengths, which they've delivered on to a good extent IMO.
It's gonna be jarring for a while. Post-finale interviews have made it clear the crew's sense of loss over his passing will be a central theme of season 6, so yeah. They've done what they can do about it, for now, I guess. Future binge-watches won't seem as weird.
Found the season 5 kinda decent, but even weaker than 4, maybe just above season 1. The threats weren't as entertaining and of course no Miller
I really liked this season.
Season 1 and the first half of season 4 remains the lowpoint (still decent though).
I actually didn't understand what happened to Alex, I thought he was reacting to something on a screen before they suddenly declared him dead. Only after seeing the finale did I read about the allegations.
Season 1 and the first half of season 4 remains the lowpoint (still decent though).
I actually didn't understand what happened to Alex, I thought he was reacting to something on a screen before they suddenly declared him dead. Only after seeing the finale did I read about the allegations.