Amazon Studio boss explains how cult sci-fi show The Expanse was saved

'Jeff Bezos was getting emails from everyone from George RR Martin to every captain of industry'

The Expanse Season 3 Trailer

Fans of The Expanse went through a roller coaster of emotions earlier this year, the show being initially cancelled by SkyFy, only to be resurrected by Amazon.

Head of the studio, Jennifer Salke, has since spoken about the process behind why they decided to bring back the space-exploration show.

“Really smart people, whose opinions I really value creatively, started reaching out to me, saying, ‘have you seen this show, The Expanse, it’s actually great’,” Salke told Deadline.

“I hadn’t, so I spent some time, I watched the show and I was like, this show is actually really well done, why is nobody watching it? At the same time, [head of Amazon] Jeff Bezos was getting emails from everyone from George R.R. Martin to every captain of industry, like the founder of Craigslist, and they were all writing, saying, there’s this show, it’s so great, you have to see it, you have to buy it or save it.”

Salke details that they then moved forward to try and acquire the show: “We had it pretty much done when [Bezos] emailed saying, ‘I’m at an event, a space seminar, I’m looking at the cast of The Expanse here, I would like to get up there and order the show. Can I, can I?’ I was like, let me check with business affairs, and then replied, you can do it, go for it. It was so fun to watch it on Twitter Live; I could see him do it in real time.”

Clips of Bezos announcing the renewal to the cast of The Expanse were soon posted online, with fans around the world celebrating.

When exactly the show will return for a fourth season remains unannounced. Season three continues weekly on SkyFy in the US. The first two season are available on Netflix in the UK.