Prime Video's Upcoming Space Opera Will Be The Expanse With More Aliens

Published Jul 20, 2026, 6:03 PM EDT Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020. While no show can quite replace the sci-fi masterpiece The Expanse, one upcoming Prime Video series does share a lot of similarities in common with the series. Based on a novel series by author James S.A. Corey (actually a pseudonym for co-authors Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham), The Expanse aired 62 episodes across six seasons between 2015 and 2022. The series started its life on SyFy, before moving to Prime Video after SyFy canceled the show after season 3. Set in a future where the rest of the solar system has been colonized by humanity, The Expanse focuses on the political machinations between the Martian Congressional Republic on Mars and the United Nations of Earth and Luna. While The Expanse’s story initially feels like a Blade Runner-inspired sci-fi noir as Thomas Jane’s cynical detective Josephus investigates a shadowy conspiracy, the show gradually expands its scope to become something more like a sci-fi version of Game of Thrones. An epic, immersive saga with dozens of major characters, The Expanse is one of the sci-fi genre’s most acclaimed small-screen outings in decades. Borrowing from the Star Trek franchise’s best shows, The Expanse ended up helping to inspire the franchise’s more recent shows like Discovery and Strange New Worlds, while the critical success of the ambitious sci-fi epic may have had a hand in getting equally acclaimed shows like Foundation, Silo, and For All Mankind greenlit. Another upcoming Prime Video show, Mass Effect, could now prove a perfect replacement for The Expanse. The Expanse's Story Is Very Similar To Mass Effect’s Created by Casey Hudson, the Mass Effect video game franchise started back in 2007 with the release of the original game of the same name by BioWare. Both the original game and its three sequels were critically acclaimed, with reviewers comparing the series to the Star Trek franchise, Battlestar Galactica, and the works of Isaac Asimov. However, when Mass Effect’s upcoming Prime Video series was announced, another comparison became evident. Mass Effect’s show will be written by the Fast & Furious franchise contributor Daniel Casey with Star Trek: Beyond’s Doug Jung being announced as the show’s showrunner. However, although Mass Effect’s adaptation hasn’t borrowed its showrunner or writers from The Expanse, the two shows do still share a lot of creative DNA. In the Mass Effect games, players come across Prothean ruins that contain evidence of a highly technologically advanced alien race that predates humanity. Meanwhile, in The Expanse, the discovery of protomolecule ruins allows human characters to discover ancient technologies with powerful potential, such as the Ring Gates that link solar systems. Similarly, while Mass Effect’s Reapers are villains that destroy civilizations lest they become too powerful, The Expanse’s Ring Entities are enigmatic beings that destroyed the builders of the protomolecule ruins long ago, presumably for a similar reason. The Expanse Season 7 Would Be Better Than A Mass Effect TV Series Image via MovieStillsDB Both Mass Effect and The Expanse even feature major characters having visions because of alien technology, as well as broader themes of humanity struggling to come to terms with the potential ramifications of accessing advanced technologies. While Black Mirror also engages with the human risks of modern tech, Mass Effect and The Expanse are unique in that their sci-fi technologies come from past civilizations that have since been destroyed by shadowy forces. As such, a lot of viewers might be delighted to see a Mass Effect adaptation from Prime Video, as it may prove a fitting replacement for the classic series. However, there will also be plenty of fans who wish the original series would return for another outing instead of this video game adaptation offering a substitute. Since The Expanse remains one of the most acclaimed sci-fi shows of the last 20 years, it would be tough for Prime Video’s upcoming Mass Effect series to outdo another outing of the beloved show. Network Prime Video Showrunner Daniel Casey, Doug Yung Writers Daniel Casey