Why The Expanse Season 6 Is So Short

Why The Expanse Season 6 Is So Short

The Expanse season 6 consists of just six episodes—a stark contrast from its previous 10 or 13-episode seasons. Here are the reasons why.

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Why The Expanse Season 6 Is So Short

Deviating from its preceding seasons, The Expanse season 6 is remarkably short but there’s an understandable reason why. At just six episodes long, the space drama’s upcoming final run on Amazon Prime Video will elapse much quicker than viewers are accustomed to. The Expanse season 6 promises to conclude the series’ central conflict between Earth, Mars, and the Asteroid Belt in a 24th-century setting in which humans have colonized the Sol system and opened mysterious gateways to other worlds. Several factors likely contributed to season 6’s shortened length, such as high production costs and the feasibility of condensing its source material.

The Expanse premiered in 2015 on Syfy with a 10-episode first season. The show’s next two runs each consisted of 13 episodes before it was canceled by the network in 2018. The Expanse’s passionate fanbase subsequently launched a campaign to save the show, which resulted in Amazon Prime Video picking up The Expanse. Seasons 4 and 5 featured 10 episodes each, making The Expanse season 6’s six episodes an aberration from the show’s habitual formula.

The Expanse season 6’s reduction to six episodes most logically finds its explanation in the show’s high-budget demands for its action-packed finale, combined with the heightened cost of production stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though longtime audiences of The Expanse were certainly hoping for a longer conclusion to the show, the likely inevitable six-episode run should still suffice for a worthwhile spectacle. It’s worth noting that showrunner Naren Shankar said in a recent interview that the sixth episode was supersized and “really like an episode and a half.” (via Gizmodo)

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Why The Expanse Season 6 Is So Short

Based on the books series of the same title written by Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham under the pen name James S.A. Corey, The Expanse season 6 draws its material from the sixth novel, Babylon’s Ashes. The book serves as the climax and resolution of the system-wide war started by Belter extremist Marco Inaros and his Free Navy in the previous book Nemesis Games. Thus, The Expanse season 6 will feature more battles and large-scale action set pieces, making it much more reliant on special effects than any of the previous seasons–in the same interview, Franck reiterated that “they are not six inexpensive episodes.” The resulting high-budget demands made it a negotiation between the budget Amazon and Alcon were willing to shell out and the minimum number of episodes needed to accomplish the creative team’s vision.

As it has disrupted many areas of the public sphere, the COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted a particular economic impact on the film and TV industry. A study conducted by the California Film Commission found that COVID protocols increase film and TV production costs by roughly 5% (via Variety) and The New York Times reported that testing and other safety measures can heighten budgets by as much as 25%. Obviously, no movie or TV show boasts an unlimited budget, and without a higher investment devoted to The Expanse’s production, the team was forced to shorten The Expanse season 6.

Viewers of The Expanse may have reacted in dread upon learning of the show’s six-episode final season, as the news was sure to bring elicit painful memories of Game of Thrones’ disastrous season 8 of the same length. However, The Expanse’s shortened final season doesn’t face many obstacles thanks to the writers’ management of the show’s source material. By addressing several major plot points derived from Babylon’s Ashes in season 5, such as Fred Johnson’s death and Camina Drummer’s betrayal of Marco, The Expanse season 6 can easily condense its source material to fill six episodes without coming across as overly rushed. Although The Expanse’s last season will end up as its shortest, the showrunners have not ruled out a return to adapt the series’ next few books. Should an on-screen future materialize, viewers won’t have to dwell on the show ending so soon.

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Link Source : https://screenrant.com/expanse-season-6-episodes-short-reasons/

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