Syfy announced late today that The Expanse has been renewed for a third season. That show is well loved by its fans, but the ratings have not been great in its second season especially considering it is rather expensive to produce. It started out the season with a 0.25 rating based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic, decent numbers for its network, but dropped within a few weeks to a 0.14 score, about where Incorporated was when it got cancelled this year. But it has trended up since then and has also seen decent delayed viewing gains (I’m also guessing that its digital viewing numbers are good, but Syfy does not share those stats). The show has received high praise from fans and critics alike and seems to be getting more attention from the sci fi community of late (in fact, I will be on an upcoming episode of Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy discussing the show). It is based on the series of books by James S.A. Corey that currently includes six volumes with at least three more on the way. The Expanse combines hard sci fi with politics and is reminiscent of Battlestar: Galactica, a show that it is commonly compared to. Syfy refers to it as Game of Thrones in space, which is also a fairly adequate comparison. The third season will have thirteen episodes just like the second and should cover most if not all of the third book in the series Abbadon’s Gate. Expect it to debut early in 2018. The second season of the show, which airs Wednesdays at 10 PM EST, is currently eight episodes in and will wrap up on April 19th.
Also announced today, Syfy’s 12 Monkeys will continue into a fourth season which will be the final one for that series. That show is currently scheduled to return on May 19th for its third year (also just announced) and the early fourth season renewal comes as a bit of a surprise. 12 Monkeys is one of Syfy’s lowest rated shows from the past few years, but it is also well regarded by sci fi fans. Apparently the network felt good enough about it going into its third year and to go ahead and give it that fourth, final season to wrap up all its storylines. That will give it a decently binge-worthy run of 46 episodes total and also should not leave fans hanging on an unresolved story arc. Its fourth season will be ten episodes like its third and will bow at some point in 2018.
Syfy has not announced a renewal yet for currently airing series The Magicians, but expect that to come at any time as it currently has the highest ratings that network has seen for a scripted series in at least a couple of years. Stay tuned to this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news on that show as well as the many others currently airing.
