Items10The creator’s order
  1. 1Battlestar Galactica (2004)Battlestar Galactica (2004) 8.7/10 on IMDbFirst aired 18 Oct 2004The 2004 Battlestar Galactica puts military command, civilian government and a vulnerable fleet in constant negotiation. Food, fuel and the next safe destination make political choices immediate, much as they do aboard and beyond the Rocinante. Start here for institutional tension and a crew who…0
  2. 2For All Mankind (2019)For All Mankind (2019) 8.1/10 on IMDbFirst aired 1 Nov 2019For All Mankind imagines a space race that continues to reshape national priorities, working relationships and the value of being first. Its expansion towards Mars makes the distance between a settlement and the governments funding it increasingly consequential. Choose it for the connection between…0
  3. 3Babylon 5 (1994)Babylon 5 (1994) 8.4/10 on IMDbFirst aired 26 Jan 1994Babylon 5 places rival powers, diplomats and workers around one station where a local compromise can have consequences far beyond the next docking. Like The Expanse, it benefits from a world in which no group has an uncontested account of the larger conflict. Choose the 1994 series for sustained…0
  4. 4Andor (2022)Andor (2022) 8.6/10 on IMDbFirst aired 21 Sept 2022Andor is less concerned with spacecraft than with the labour, administration and extraction that keep an empire functioning. Its strongest link to The Expanse is the way large institutions reach into an ordinary person's working day. Pick it for a completed two-season story about resistance with…0
  5. 5Silo (2023)Silo (2023) 8.1/10 on IMDbFirst aired 4 May 2023The people in Silo depend on a habitat whose infrastructure and information are controlled by different parts of its hierarchy. It supplies The Expanse's link between practical maintenance and political power without supplying a space voyage. Choose it for a society that becomes intelligible…0
  6. 6Defiance (2013)Defiance (2013) 7.0/10 on IMDbFirst aired 15 Apr 2013The town in Defiance has to make coexistence work after different alien populations have transformed Earth. Its law enforcement, local government and private interests cannot treat resources or belonging as neutral questions. Choose it for a smaller, more episodic alternative to The Expanse's…0
  7. 7Mars (2016)Mars (2016) 7.4/10 on IMDbFirst aired 14 Nov 2016The 2016 Mars intercuts a fictional future mission and settlement with documentary interviews and footage from its production era. The practical constraints of building somewhere hostile connect directly to The Expanse's interest in work that cannot be wished away. Choose it for a hybrid format…0
  8. 8Colony (2016)Colony (2016) 7.3/10 on IMDbFirst aired 14 Jan 2016Colony's occupied Los Angeles makes permits, movement and work part of the unequal bargain between a family and the authorities governing the city. It connects to The Expanse through people whose need to protect their own can pull against a larger political allegiance. Choose it for a less obvious…0
  9. 9Planetes (2003)Planetes (2003) 8.1/10 on IMDbFirst aired 4 Oct 2003The debris-removal crew in Planetes begin with the unglamorous work that allows more celebrated space activity to continue. Contracts, workplace status and ambition give the larger politics a human point of entry. Choose the Japanese anime for The Expanse's respect for practical labour and the…0
  10. 10Occupied (2015)Occupied (2015) 7.6/10 on IMDbFirst aired 19 Nov 2015Occupied imagines Norway's decision over energy production becoming a crisis of sovereignty under external pressure. There are no spaceships, but control of a resource changes what stronger powers demand and what local people consider cooperation or resistance. Choose the primarily…0