4 Years Later, Prime Video’s 6-Part Sci-Fi With 95% RT Score Is Still One Of Its Best Shows Of All Time

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2022 saw the finales of several iconic TV shows, including The Walking Dead, Better Call Saul, and Peaky Blinders, all after many successful seasons. But one show that ended that year, while less talked about then, has unexpectedly become a game-changer in its genre.

The sci-fi series The Expanse, a critically acclaimed space opera with a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, wrapped up its six-season run four years ago. Remarkably, the show overcame early cancellation and even continued on Prime Video after originally airing on SyFy.

Although The Expanse isn’t as widely known as shows like The Walking Dead or Peaky Blinders, it’s likely had a bigger influence on the science fiction genre. The Walking Dead has inspired shows like The Last of Us, and Peaky Blinders led to others such as A Thousand Blows, but no sci-fi series has yet emerged to fill the void left by The Expanse.

It’s Been Over A Decade, Where Is The Next Expanse?

Sci-Fi TV Still Hasn’t Found A Show That Can Truly Replace The Best Space Opera Of The Century

It’s been over a decade since The Expanse first aired on SyFy in 2015, and more than four years since it finished its six-season run on Prime Video. Many still consider it the best example of science fiction on television, and it’s rarely discussed without a great deal of praise. This leads to a big question now: what show will be the next Expanse?

Since The Expanse ended, no other science fiction show has quite measured up. While many ambitious shows have tried, they haven’t fully reached the same level of quality. Apple TV’s Foundation is a notable example – it’s visually impressive and shares The Expanse‘s scope and ambition. However, even Foundation hasn’t quite managed to capture the same compelling mix of personal stories and large-scale galactic conflict that made The Expanse so successful.

One reason it’s tough for new sci-fi shows to stand out is that The Expanse set a very high standard. It successfully blended the complex storytelling you’d find in high-quality dramas with the grand scope of blockbuster sci-fi – something few shows even try to do. It expertly balanced political intrigue, social issues, alien mysteries, and thrilling survival elements, all while keeping the characters and their emotions relatable. Now, audiences are less patient with sci-fi that isn’t consistently good, making it even harder for new shows to succeed.

The Expanse’s Impact On Sci-Fi TV Is Still Being Felt

Prime’s Best Sci-Fi Helped Force Modern Space Operas To Aim Much Higher

While no sci-fi show has quite reached the level of The Expanse, science fiction on television has gotten much better since it first aired. Before The Expanse, ambitious sci-fi shows often had trouble maintaining good production values. Space operas, in particular, were often seen as just for a small group of fans. But over the past ten years, studios have begun to take sci-fi television more seriously, and The Expanse was a major factor in that change.

Apple TV+’s expanding collection of science fiction shows is a great example of this trend. Series like Foundation, Silo, For All Mankind, and Severance demonstrate a growing demand for thoughtful, high-quality sci-fi television. While these shows aren’t traditional space adventures, they still benefit from the increased standards for the genre that The Expanse established.

What fans want has really changed. It’s not enough to just have good special effects or a well-known name anymore to get them excited. We’ve seen recently with shows like those in Star Trek and Star Wars that if a show doesn’t live up to expectations, fans will quickly react negatively. Today’s sci-fi fans need more than just a familiar franchise to keep them watching.

Ultimately, the biggest accomplishment of The Expanse is its lasting impact. The show didn’t just tell a fantastic science fiction story; it redefined what viewers now expect from the genre. Even four years after it ended, other shows are still trying to reach the same high standard, and science fiction television is better for it.

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2026-05-13 02:28