Season 7?  Not yet!

The Expanse is considered by many to the most realistic Science Fiction ever made… and one of the finest sci-fi shows ever made. 9 novels were written by S.A.Corey (pen name of Ty Frank and Daniel Abraham) and it was hoped after the 6th season of the show we would get to see series based on the last 3 novels next.

Now we were able to report on SciTrek that Amazon did seriously consider continuing the story. Afterall Jeff Bezos is a big fan and what the top man wants, the top man gets. They seriously considered a 7th season, or spin off TV movies but none of their plans came to fruition and it was decided to end it there. Some said that it kind of made sense to leave it where they did, that it “felt right” and pointed out that there is actually a 30 year gap between books 6 and 7. People close to the show like Showrunner Naren Shankar hinted that there may be to come from the show.

Since season 6 we have had comic books and a computer game but nothing from Amazon about changing their minds… so perhaps The Expanse really is over?

A forced wait?

Well once again SciTrek were able to report first that there was in fact a possible future for the Expanse but that we would have to wait. Amazon only own the distribution rights for the show you see, they dont actually own the rights, the Intellectual Property or IP. Alcon Television group does.

So it is actually Alcon that own the rights and make the show so now Amazon dont want it anymore they can just go somewhere else right? Well no… Sadly part of the deal with Amazon means they own the distribution rights so if Alcon wanted to make any more of the series they could only ever give it to Amazon, who dont want it. So we are back to the show being dead?

Well no.

There is a clause, according to sources, that allows Alcon to sell distribution rights again after a set time period if Amazon choose not to pick up any show. We believe that time period is 2 years. If correct that means in a few months Alcon will be able to once again create new material and sell it to another streaming platform or network.

So it a few months Alcon could be free to get a new deal, but who would be interested? Well Apple TV of course. Apple are becoming a bit well known for expressing interest in almost every IP available and The Expanse is no different. I first heard rumors of their interest, along with Warner Bros, over a year ago but at that time it was nothing more than just that.. interest. It seems now though that as the deadline on the contract with Amazon gets closer, that interest is becoming more solid. It looks like Warner Bros. are less interested now as they move away from focusing on Max and look to produce more of their own IP instead but Apple TV are still in conversations.

Of course there is a problem though

Apple want something that is separate from what came before.

So what does that actually mean? Well Apple want something that is set in the universe of the Expanse, something that Expanse fans will flock to Apple TV+ to watch, but that will not alienate new viewers either. Basically something that you don’t have to have watched the first 6 seasons of the show, or read the books, to enjoy.

This has been the conversation for some months now and SciTrek can confirm that at very least Naren Shankar and Ty Frank are interested in giving them exactly what they want.

The Expanse TV and movies?

It seems that these two at very least, there may be more but we cannot confirm it, are looking to create their own Production Company in order to start developing exactly what Apple want. Previously The Expanse was developed for TV by a production company called Penguin in a Parker. Run by Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus, Penguin in a Parker did much of the heavy lifting early on in the series but have now movied on to other projects. Naren Shankar and Ty Frank may be looking to take on that role and develop a TV show and possibly straight to Apple movies as well.

There may even be further novels, comics etc. that would tie in with these new projects. My source on this has said that they believe this plan has been in the back of the creators minds for some time and even before writing season 6 they knew this might happen and apparently wrote in some “teasers” for what they now have planned. Some of the proposed story lines may also have been teased in the recent video game and comic book releases.

 

So that leads us to an interesting possibility… Can we figure out what some of those story lines might be? Well I am planning to rewatch season 6 now with this in mind and perhaps we can make a few educated guesses?

But for now all we can be sure of is that there is a chance the Expanse could return… it just might not be the season 7 we were hoping for.