Save ‘The Expanse’: Fan Campaign To Find New Home For Canceled SyFy Show Appears To Be Gaining Real Traction
Fans are hoping to save The Expanse, a popular show canceled this week by SyFy, and it appears that the social media campaign may actually be having an effect.
The cable network announced this week that the show would not be renewed for a fourth season, meaning the last episode will air in July. The news was lost a bit amid a number of other high-profile cancelations on major networks, but fans of The Expanse took notice and are launching a campaign they hope will be able to save the show. Those who work on the show are getting into the campaign as well.
The campaign is aiming at the streaming services Netflix and Amazon, with a fan-launched petition garnering more than 20,000 signatures in just a few days. As the petition pointed out, Netflix already has the international rights to the show, and a “complete acquisition would only be logical.”
These fan campaigns have worked in the past, most recently after Fox announced it would be canceling the popular Brooklyn Nine-Nine. There was a huge outcry from the show’s fans and within days, NBC announced that it would be picking up the show for its sixth season.
The campaign to save The Expanse may be gaining traction as well. As Deadline reported, the company that produces the show announced plans to shop it to other networks in the hope that it will get a second life just like Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
As Deadline noted, The Expanse was loved both by fans and by critics, achieving a 100 percent score on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The show was considered the cornerstone of the re-launch of SyFy as the network went back to its roots in science-fiction. Deadline noted that it was even seen as a potential successor to Battlestar Galactica.
While it is not clear where The Expanse could end up if it is saved, the show’s writers sent a message directly to Amazon.
Amazon, please save The Expanse – #SaveTheExpanse -There is power in numbers. If you love the Expanse, take a moment to sign the Petition https://t.co/eKT5pbQ5la ?Thank you to our amazing fans for putting this together ? #TheExpanse @amazonstudios @jeffbezos
— The Expanse Writers (@TheExpanseWR) May 14, 2018
It was not clear if any other networks or streaming services have shown any real interest in saving The Expanse, but the fan campaign is only building momentum. The petition is growing at a pace of several thousand new signatures each day, and fans have helped the hashtag #SaveTheExpanse trend across social media.
