The Expanse season 6 is arriving imminently – and we can expect the series to be a step up from previous installments.
Indeed, speaking to SFX magazine, showrunner Naren Shankar calls this season "by far the best we've ever done."
"We talk a lot about how to make the space battles look interesting, beautiful, and cool," he says in the new issue, featuring The Witcher season 2 on the cover. "We talk a lot about the cinematic way of rendering these battles. From the visual effects standpoint, the team did an amazing job this year, just in terms of the details on the ships, the way we show things at a distance and really convey the scope of space. It's a significant advancement over the previous season."
"It's as ambitious as we have ever been," he continues. "I like to think that year after year, season after season, we always sit down at the end and go, 'Okay, how do we top ourselves?' That was certainly the mindset going into season six. There's an ending here. You want to honor that. You want to honor the source material. You want to make it satisfying for the fans. As Ty [Frank] and Daniel [Abraham, novel writers and executive producers] always say, 'You've got to stick the landing.'"
Almost from launch, The Expanse drew comparisons to 2004's critically acclaimed Battlestar Galactica reboot. The two gritty space sagas both tackled human drama, political intrigue, dire threats, and thrilling action sequences. Shankar says he's humbled by the high praise and is proud of their legacy.
"Where we end up amongst really fantastic shows – and I consider Battlestar Galactica one of the top ones – is up to other people," Shankar says. "I feel what we have done is uncommon, in the sense that we faithfully adapted a novel into a show, that stayed true to the spirit of the work and the message of it.
"Even though things inevitably changed, and we told certain elements of the story somewhat differently, it's unusual, especially in science fiction, to tell a story of this scope about tribalism and imperialism and colonialism and hatred and war that also feels intimate."
"From the very beginning, The Expanse was both small and big," he concludes. "It was the boots on the ground and then the view from 50,000 feet. I feel we achieved something that is rather uncommon and quite special."
The Expanse season 6 arrives December 10 on Amazon Prime Video. For much more on The Expanse, pick up a copy of the new SFX magazine, out Wednesday, December 1, and available to order online.
