Critically acclaimed space opera The Expanse has been cancelled by Syfy after three seasons. Fans are trying to save the show, which includes not only a wonderfully multi-racial cast, but also a positive portrayal of queer moms.
The Expanse, based on the series of novels by James S. A. Corey (a pen name for writers Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck), takes place in our solar system in a future where residents of Earth, Mars, and the asteroid belt are engaged in political, cultural, and personal struggles for control of humanity’s future. It’s smart, well written, and well acted, in a thoughtfully imagined future world. In the third season, which began in April, we meet Reverend Doctor Annushka “Anna” Volovodov (Elizabeth Mitchell), a Russian and Methodist pastor who is advisor to leaders at Earth’s United Nations. She gets caught up in the political machinations of those around her, even as she attempts to do the right thing and help those in need. She has a daughter named Nami with her Ugandan wife Nono, whom we meet via the video calls they have with each other.
While the storyline does not focus on their family, and Anna is only one of an ensemble cast, the show clearly indicates that she, Nono, and Nami are a family, and that their connections are important even as Anna’s work takes her far away from them. The fact that Anna and Nono are a same-sex couple is refreshingly not even an issue. The writers and producers didn’t even feel they needed to explain their relationship—it just is. Earthers, Martians, and Belters may have biases against each other, but in the future of The Expanse, queerness is completely accepted. In the books, we eventually see the family all together again and trying to support each other through a difficult time; the television show isn’t at this point yet, and it’s unclear if it will get the chance to be.
The show also features several other complex, smart, strong women, including United Nations Deputy Undersecretary Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo), Martian Recon Marine Sergeant Bobbie Draper (Frankie Adams), and Naomi Nagata (Dominique Tipper), an engineer and chief executive officer of the spaceship Rocinante.
Deadline called The Expanse “one of the most well reviewed sci-fi series on TV, with the current third season scoring 100% on Rotten Tomatoes (vs. 95% for Season 2 and 76% for Season 1).” They explained Syfy’s surprising decision to cancel it as “linked to the nature of its agreement for the series, which only gives the cable network first-run linear rights in the U.S. That puts an extraordinary amount of emphasis on live, linear viewing, which is inherently challenging for sci-fi/genre series that tend to draw the lion’s share of their audiences from digital/streaming.”
Fans are trying to get Netflix, Amazon, HBO, or another network to pick up the show, using the hashtag #SavetheExpanse. Hop on board.