The Witcher remains the most in-demand show in the world

The Witcher remains the most in-demand show in the world by Ashley Hurst

It’s hardly been two months since season 4 of The Expanse blasted onto Amazon Prime, and the good word is already coming through that season 5 has just about wrapped filming.

First of all, we have plenty of images from the wrap party, many of them courtesy of makeup department head Brian Hui:

My captain! My captain! Hanging with Steven Strait at the wrap party! @ExpanseOnPrime #TheExpanse pic.twitter.com/Rga0nBejEU — Brian Hui (@BriBriGuy23) February 10, 2020

At last night's Expanse wrap up party 🎉 with my beautiful Expanse family. Keon Alexander, Frankie Adams, Dominique Tipper, Jenn Brown, Cas Anvar, celebrating shooting season five. Thanks to @AlconEnt and @PrimeVideo 🙏❤️#TheExpanse #ScreamingFirehawks pic.twitter.com/IXPA6lQjGG — Shohreh Aghdashloo (@SAghdashloo) February 9, 2020

In fact, Hui is a font of fantastic images pretty much round the clock:

Oh the shenanigans we get up to in the hair/makeup trailer! @ExpanseOnPrime #TheExpanse pic.twitter.com/NF0onR487L — Brian Hui (@BriBriGuy23) February 11, 2020

Holden, wondering if he can book a spa day on Ilus… @ExpanseOnPrime #TheExpanse pic.twitter.com/tbSqVGftwx — Brian Hui (@BriBriGuy23) February 7, 2020

Beyond that, confirmations that work on the season is nearing completion have begun to trickle in:

that’s a wrap on Marco as we complete shooting Season 5 of @ExpanseOnPrime ! will post Behind the Scenes gems on Instagram as I excavate them. you are in for a ride 🛸#TheExpanse#ScreamingFirehawks#xoMarco pic.twitter.com/4W6eqt8ZuJ — Keon Alexander (@keonmalexander) February 10, 2020

And that is a wrap on SEASON 5 for me! Im so pleased we got to tell this supremely important part of Naomi’s story. I feel like all the things this picture is. Blurry, happy, exhausted and small. I cant wait for you to see Season 5. Its so fucking good! ❤️ @ExpanseOnPrime pic.twitter.com/cX2H3RCn0r — Dominique Tipper (@Mi55Tipper) February 12, 2020

At this point, the team seems to be in the editing bay, and we’re getting lots of good signs. For example, check out how excited James S.A. Corey (aka Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, the authors of the Expanse books) are about one particular upcoming episode:

We're wrapping up shooting season 5 of #TheExpanse .

I just watched the 508 Director's Cut. And I just realized we made a huge mistake. We didn't title episode 508 "Holy Shit Naomi Nagata is the Biggest Badass in Space." God damn, you guys. I mean, God Damn.@Mi55Tipper — James S.A. Corey (@JamesSACorey) February 13, 2020

What sort of awesomeness might the authors be referring to here? There are certainly plenty of clues from season 4 to draw from. While the lion’s share of the fourth season was adapted from Cibola Burn, the book that details the Roci crew’s adventure on the frontier planet Ilus, the show also brought in some extra elements to set up where they were going next. There are slight SPOILERS ahead, so take cover if you haven’t seen the last season yet.

The most telling clue was the inclusion of Marco Inaros (Keon Alexander), Naomi Nagata’s OPA pirate ex-lover, and the father of her son Filip (Jasai Chase Owens). Marco and Filip are integral parts of the fifth Expanse novel, Nemesis Games. Without going too deep into spoiler-ville, the main thing is that season 5 is going to be coming back to our solar system, with a strong focus on how the land rush for new planets through the Ring Gate is effecting the status quo between Earth, Mars and the Belt.

Season 4 ended with Marco revealing his plan to attack Earth with asteroids shielded by Martian stealth tech, which is bad for basically everyone. Nemesis Games has been hailed as “James S.A. Corey’s Empire Strikes Back,” and is widely considered a fan favorite, so the chances are good that the drama is going to be high next season.

No release date has been announced for season 5, but given how quickly filming is wrapping up, it seems safe to stay hopeful for a late 2020 release.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Watch Game of Thrones for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels