the expanse

Amazon has officially come to the rescue to resuscitate Syfy’s cancelled series ‘The Expanse’.  Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos is a noted fan of the series, which was at one point a potential candidate for the streaming service, before going to Syfy, a move which reportedly infuriated him.  Perhaps knowing this, fans raised money via GoFundMe in order to fly a plane over Amazon’s headquarters, dragging a sign imploring the service to rescue it.  According to reports, Amazon was already in talks but hadn’t finalized a deal, and therefore didn’t make any official statements, but now it appears all the t’s are crossed and the i’s are dotted.

Alcon Entertainment co-founders and co-CEOs Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson issued a statement announcing the revival of their series:

“We couldn’t be more excited that The Expanse is going to continue on Amazon Prime.  We are deeply grateful that Jeff Bezos, Jen Salke, and their team at Amazon have shown such faith in our show. We also want to thank Laura Lancaster, head of Alcon Television for her tireless efforts. We are fully aware that this wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for the staggering outpouring of support from the most creative, hardest working sci-fi fans around the world. From reddit campaigns to airplanes, we say thank you. It worked!”

Elsewhere, the cast was on hand at the International Space Development Conference, when Bezos took to the stage to announce that Amazon was picking up ‘The Expanse’.  Cast member Cas Anvar, who plays pilot Alex Kamal shared a video on Twitter of the cast’s reaction:

 

As Bezos stated:

“I was talking to the cast half an hour ago, right before dinner started, and I was telling them we were working hard at Amazon to save The Expanse, but it wasn’t a done deal yet.  And during dinner, 10 minutes ago, I just got word that The Expanse is saved.”

As Anvar stated, “Our minds are blown.  I had my suspicious that this was something spontaneous that happened because the energy and the synergy of the universe came together. But you are getting season 4, people!”

Separately, series writer Naren Shankar addressed the die-hard fans whose efforts helped this happen.  “You guys did this. You guys made this happen.”

Other writers and cast members also took to social media to thank the fans for their continued support.

Are you a fan of ‘The Expanse’?  Are you happy that the creators are getting the opportunity to continue this story?

Source: Entertainment Weekly