“We’re wrapping up shooting Season 5 of The Expanse,” Abraham and/or Franck tweeted, tagging in British actor Dominique Tipper, who plays Naomi. “I just watched the 508 Director’s Cut. And I just realized we made a huge mistake. We didn’t title Episode 508 ‘Holy S–t Naomi Nagata is the Biggest Badass in Space.’ God damn, you guys. I mean, God Damn.”
After meeting in a writing group, Abraham joined Franck for a tabletop roleplaying game, which was set in the solar system of The Expanse—a setting Franck spent years developing. Abraham, already an established novelist, proposed setting a book series in the fictional future. In 2011, they published Leviathan Wakes, the first book in The Expanse series. With nine books planned, the most recent released is the eighth in the series, Tiamat’s Wrath, published in March 2019.
Season 5 of The Expanse will be primarily based on the fifth in the book series, Nemesis Games. After the previous book, Cibola Burn, depicted humanity’s first efforts at colonizing the alien worlds opened up by the protomolecule Ring, Nemesis Games depicts the repercussions in our own solar system. The balance of power between Mars, the United Nations of Earth and the working class Belters was already beginning to shift in recent episodes, but the events of Season 5 are shaping up to be downright cataclysmic for the status quo.
Readers of The Expanse book series likely already know or suspect what events make Naomi the indisputable “biggest badass in space” in the eighth episode of the upcoming season, but Abraham and Franck have cautioned against spoiling The Expanse too widely.
Principal photography on the fifth season of The Expanse is complete or nearly so—the wrap party already happened—with cast members sharing their final moments on set. Tipper described her experience shooting Season 5 on social media, including a photo from her final day of filming for upcoming episodes. Similar to Abraham and Franck’s description of the eighth episode of the fifth season, Tipper alludes to major upcoming events in Naomi’s life.
“I’m so pleased we got to tell this supremely important part of Naomi’s story,” Tipper said. “I can’t wait for you to see Season 5. It’s so fucking good!”
The Expanse Season 5 will likely premiere late in 2020, but does not yet have an announced release date.
