The Expanse is returning to Amazon Prime. At the NYCC Metaverse The Expanse panel today, the cast and crew sat down for a Q&A, hosted by Dominique Tipper (Naomi Nagata). Before the Q&A really kicked off, though, the release date and trailer were revealed! The show’s fifth season will premiere with three episodes on December 16th, releasing an episode every week after that. Check out the trailer below.
The Q&A was a lively discussion covering everything from what s5 has in store to who would win in a race in heels. (Wes Chatham and Shohreh Aghdashloo verbally sparred over who would triumph.) Tipper kicked things off by talking to the showrunner, Naren Shankar, and the two authors who wrote the original book series, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (collectively known as James S. A. Corey).
Shankar said that the theme discussed in the writers’ room for season 5 was an ominous-sounding “you reap what you sow.” If you’re a fan of the books, you may already know what this means, and if you both saw the end of season 4 and read the books, you definitely know what this means. Disaster is coming. Shankar, Abraham, and Franck also discussed how threads of backstory for characters like Naomi and Amos Burton have been there throughout the series, but they’ll really be tackled this season.
The cast reflected on their characters’ endings for season 4, and where they will be at the start of season 5. Not many spoilers were given out, although we do know from the trailer and from Chatham that Amos will be returning home to Baltimore. Frankie Adams, who plays Bobbie Draper, noted that her character is learning to leave behind simply focusing on the good of her people, instead focusing on the good of the system at large. There was a lot of laughter over Cara Gee‘s response. Her character, Camina Drummer, let Marco Inaros (who is being set up as the season’s big bad) go during season 4. “She may come to regret that, I don’t know,” Gee joked.
Season 5 promises to be bigger than any other season of The Expanse, with Tipper even teasing that it’s the Avengers: Infinity War of the show. And we all know how that ended. Check out the full panel below for more insights into how the actors see their characters, and how the creators see the larger world they’ve created.
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