Less than a week after we reported on the efforts to revive Syfy’s The Expanse, including an airplane banner that was flown above Amazon Studios’ headquarters in California, Amazon Studios has reportedly decided to revive the space drama for a fourth season. That’s according to The Hollywood Reporter, which says that the deal isn’t finalized yet, but the show is apparently a favorite of Amazon CEO (and absurdly rich dude) Jeff Bezos, so he could make anything happen if he just threw enough money at it. The Hollywood Reporter story says that Bezos was already “livid” that the show had gone to Syfy in the first place, since he’s a “big fan of the book,” and he had already the show’s streaming rights (at least in the United States).
Assuming the necessary deals work out, this will put the vast entirety of The Expanse all under Amazon’s roof. It will also give the streaming service a Game Of Thrones-esque drama, which is something Bezos has been trying to get for years. In the end, though, the most important lesson here is that online petitions never work, but airplane banners always do.
UPDATE, 5/26/2018: Amazon head Jeff Bezos officially confirmed that his company has picked up The Expanse for a fourth season last night, at the unlikely venue of Bezos’ speech at the at National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference, where the cast of the show was in attendance.
“I was talking to the cast half an hour ago, before the break for dinner started,” Bezos said. “I was telling them that we are working hard at Amazon to save The Expanse but it wasn’t a done deal yet. During dinner, ten minutes ago, I just got word that The Expanse is saved,” Bezos said. (As if the decision was completely out of his hands in the first place, but whatever.) He added, “The show is extraordinary and these guys are unbelievably talented.” Cast member Cas Anvar captured the moment on video: