'The Expanse' season 5 launches back onto Amazon Prime Video this week

The smash sci-fi series "The Expanse" rockets back onto Amazon Prime Video Wednesday (Dec. 16) with more protomolecule madness, Ring maneuvering, an election aftermath, black market weapons malfeasance and renegade Marco Inaros and his Free Navy trying to shift the balance of power in the Sol System in favor of the downtrodden Belters.

The first three episodes of Season 5 premiere Wednesday, with fresh chapters available each subsequent week, culminating in the 10th installment and season finale on Feb. 3, 2021.

Amazon Prime Video has also, sadly, announced that the show's recent renewal for its sixth season will mark its final season.

Related: 'The Expanse' is getting a new comic book miniseries: A first look 

To gear up for the interstellar action, Amazon Studios has delivered a dynamic new poster and collection of 11 official production stills. This intense new one-sheet showcases Inaros (Keon Alexander) looming over our brave Rocinante crew beside Bobbie Draper (Frankie Adams), former U.N. head Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo), Belter Camina Drummer (Cara Gee), OPA leader Fred Johnson (Chad L. Coleman), and Clarissa Mao (Nadine Nicole).

The official poster for "The Expanse" season 5 on Amazon Prime.  (Image credit: Amazon Studios)

For further details on the new season's epic storyline, here’s the official synopsis:

"Season 5 of the series picks up as multitudes of humans leave the solar system in search of new homes and vast fortunes on the earth-like worlds beyond the alien Ring, and a heavy price for centuries of exploitation of the Belt finally comes due and a reckoning is at hand. For the crew of the Rocinante and the leaders of the Inner Planets and the Belt, the past and present converge, bringing forth personal challenges that have wide-reaching repercussions throughout the Solar System.

"Amos (Wes Chatham) returns to Earth to confront his past and the legacy of the life he fought to leave behind. Naomi (Dominique Tipper) reaches out to her estranged son in a desperate bid to save him from his father’s toxic influence. Bobbie (Frankie Adams) and Alex (Cas Anvar) confront the collapse of Mars as they chase a shadowy cabal with ties to terrorists and criminals. Holden (Steven Strait) wrestles with the consequences of his own past with the Protomolecule, the aliens who built it, and the mystery of what killed them. Drummer (Cara Gee), with a new crew, fights to escape who and what she used to be. And Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo), refusing to be relegated to the sidelines, fights to prevent a terrorist attack unrivaled in history."

Now check out this new batch of season 5 images in the gallery below!

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Jeff Spry
Contributing Writer

Jeff Spry is an award-winning screenwriter and veteran freelance journalist covering TV, movies, video games, books, and comics. His work has appeared at SYFY Wire, Inverse, Collider, Bleeding Cool and elsewhere. Jeff lives in beautiful Bend, Oregon amid the ponderosa pines, classic muscle cars, a crypt of collector horror comics, and two loyal English Setters.