The Expanse's shortened final season feels like a prelude to a premature ending

Indiewire

"In the last few seasons, as the show has traded one all-encompassing threat for another, it’s never lost sight of the fact that all of these pieces of physical and psychological connective tissue are extremely vulnerable," says Steve Greene of the Amazon series. "When the enigmatic force of the protomolecule gave way to a bloodthirsty win-at-all-costs revolutionary, The Expanse kept the ability to paint its drama on a massive, cosmic canvas. That constant ability to live on either side of the granular-to-galactic spectrum makes Season 6 of The Expanse a curious object. For more than a year, it’s been the official line that this is the show’s last season on Prime Video. Shorter in length — six episodes as opposed to the 10, or even 13, of years past — the show’s then left to negotiate a tricky landing. There are four more novels’ worth of material left to consider, and they’re operating without a central cast member, written out at last season’s close." He adds: "Where The Expanse stalls in Season 6 is elsewhere. The show is no stranger to putting the pieces in place for a climactic showdown, but usually in a longer season those objectives have room to spread out and add to the overall momentum. Here, aside from locking in a few of the circumstances around that confrontation, it’s not hard to see the trajectory on which things are heading. On the way there, much of the Season 6 runtime is stuck in a kind of middle ground between the two areas where the show excels."

ALSO:

• Why The Expanse's sixth and final season is only six episodes: "That was a decision between Amazon and Alcon Television," says showrunner Naren Shankar. "I mean, you always kind of agree on how much money you’re going to commit to the production of the show. And that was the decision. It came down to making six episodes of it. It’s always a negotiation to some extent. Could we have done 10? Absolutely. Could we have done eight? Certainly. Uh, I don’t think we would’ve been able to tell the season in any less than six."
• Showrunner Naren Shanker on tackling a storyline not in the books
• The Expanse maintains the poetry in its scripts and plotting even as the last episodes wrap up too neatly
• Keon Alexander reflects on Marco Inaros' troubling journey
• Shohreh Aghdashloo discusses Chrisjen Avasarala's changes for Season 6