Everything We Learned About ‘The Expanse’ Season 6 From the NYCC Panel

It’s The Expanse’s sixth and final season and most of the cast along with the producers of one of TV’s most intelligent and complex science fiction shows got together virtually to talk about what’s to come at 2021 New York Comic Con. The panel’s moderator? Dominique Tipper, who plays former Belter Naomi.

For those who needed some brushing up on the first exciting and dense seasons, there was also a short trailer.

Here are some key takeaways:

Don’t expect to binge the last season right away

Season 6 premieres on December 10 and will air old-school style, with one episode per week; the final episode running a supersized 65 minutes. According to the producers, there was always a plan for a big ending and to make it so, Episode 6 was shot at the same time as the season premiere, so there was plenty of time to work on visual effects.

Expect pedal-to-the-metal excitement

Because the season is “so compressed,” as the producers put it, “the extra fat” has been sliced off and it’s warp speed ahead. (Mixing sci-fi show metaphors.)  We can expect lots of intensity. Despite the small episode order, the producers insist the story “hasn’t lost anything.”

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There’s plenty of tension, guilt, and worry on the Rocif (and a one-time mass murderer)

Beloved pilot Alex (Cas Anvar) died tragically last season after rescuing the lost-in-space Naomi, and in his stead (though not in the pilot seat), there’s the not-so-welcome Clarissa aka Peaches (Nadine Nicole) who tried to kill the Roci crew. Relations between Naomi and Amos (Wes Chatham) will be very tense over his bringing her aboard. This season, Peaches, says Nicole, “wants to be of service.”

And poor Holden (Steven Strait) still has the weight of the universe on his shoulders. “We’re still adjusting to the new crew; morale is really low, the war [with Belter fanatic Marco, played Keon Alexander] is dragging on,” Strait reveals.  There’s a real sense that Holden and his onboard family haven’t accomplished anything.

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Naomi still feels guilty and stuck in the middle

She’s not happy when the show opens,  “pretty much flying around killing Belters,” when she is one herself. She also has PTSD  for not being able to save Alex or Filip, her son with Marco.

As does former Belter radical Drummer (Cara Gee)

She feels backed into a corner with no place to go. She can’t support the murderous Marco any longer nor does she believe in Earth, and wonders what’s in store for her people.

Amos is growing up and has decisions to make

The ship’s wild man realized he always leaned on mentors like Naomi and Holden but realizes he’s become one for Peaches, guiding and leading her, to hopefully a better way of living. He also begins to wonder why he and his crew are involved in these “huge moments in history,” and wants to take them and get away from all that.

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Meanwhile, at the UN…

Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) is back heading the organization and trying to save the universe by recruiting both friends and enemies together to fight Marco before Earth, among other worlds, is completely destroyed.