Amazon has acquired worldwide subscription-streaming rights to the first three seasons of The Expanse, the space thriller that originally aired on Syfy, leading up to Prime Video’s debut of season 4 later in 2019.
Seasons 1-2 of The Expanse are currently available in the U.S. on Prime Video. All three seasons, comprising 36 episodes in all, will become available on the service in over 200 countries and territories starting Feb. 8.
Amazon picked up the fourth season of The Expanse after NBCUniversal’s Syfy cancelled the show last year. Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, announced that deal in May 2018 at the National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference in L.A. (Amazon hasn’t announced a premiere date for season 4.) Bezos has a personal passion for space exploration, having founded space-aeronautics and spaceflight company Blue Origin in 2000.
The Expanse, produced by Alcon Television Group, is based on the novels by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (under the pen name James S. A. Corey). The story is set 200 years in the future, when humans have colonized the solar system, with the United Nations controlling Earth and an independent military power inhabiting Mars. The series begins with Earth and Mars on the verge of war over air and water resources located in the asteroid belt — and a conspiracy threatens the survival of humanity.
The TV series was co-created and written by Mark Fergus (Iron Man) and Hawk Otsby (“Children of Men”). Naren Shankar is the showrunner.
The series stars Thomas Jane (“Deep Blue Sea”), Shohreh Asgdashloo (“Star Trek: Beyond”), Steve Strait (“The Covenant”), Dominique Tipper (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”), Wes Chatam (“The Hunger Games”), Cas Anvar (“Punisher: War Zone”), Frankie Adams (“Mortal Engines”), Shawn Doyle (“Frequency”), Chad L. Coleman (“The Walking Dead”), Florence Faivre (“The Sia Renaissance”) and Cara Gee (“Empire of Dirt”).
