The Expanse Season 6 is going to be the shortest season of the lot, and it’s the final season. Why will it only have six episodes?

When we found out The Expanse Season 6 would be the last, we were disappointed. It was one of those calming disappointments, though. The show had warning, and it meant that storylines could be wrapped up.

Now the question is whether there will be time. When we got a premiere date for the series, we also learned that there would only be six episodes to the final season. How is it possible to fit so much in?

The good news is The Expanse series finale is going to be the longest episode, at around 90 minutes. However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that the season is so short. Why is that the case?

Amazon and Alcon Television made the decision

This was not a show decision. Instead, it was Amazon and Alcon Television looking at the budget available, according to Gizmodo. The two wanted to know if the show could tell the final story in just six episodes to keep the series within budget. After all, this is not a low-budget series!

Naren Shankar, Ty Franck, and the rest of the team took a look at the storylines. They determined it could just about be done in six episodes, but the finale would need to be longer than normal. That was a compromise everyone agreed to.

It does mean we’ll see less of Prax and Pastor Anna than was originally planned. However, their storylines could be reduced to just the bare minimum to offer cameos and still make their place in the show make sense.

Leviathan Falls (The Expanse Book 9) ($)

The pandemic also played a part in The Expanse Season 6

There was also the pandemic at play, which was the reason many people suspected. Filming for The Expanse Season 6 didn’t start until the new year of 2021. To be able to bring the season at the end of the year, filming needed to be completed by April or May at the latest. The only way to do that was to reduce the episode count.

It’s clear that Amazon wanted to stick to the December release date for the series. While budget would have been the No. 1 reason, the pandemic would have been the second.

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What do you hope to see in The Expanse Season 6? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The Expanse Season 6 airs Fridays on Amazon Prime Video.