“The Expanse”: A Future in Which Even Gravity Is Political

Paris – 11 July 2026: Laurent Valiere’s summer trip into the future takes him surprisingly little distance from the present this time. In his franceinfo series on shows that invent what is to come, the critic introduces “The Expanse”: a science-fiction story that looks nearly three centuries ahead while dealing above all with very old issues – resource scarcity, class divisions, power blocs and the distrust between them.

The series transports humanity into a colonized solar system. Earth is governed by the United Nations, Mars has become an independent military power, and the asteroid belt is home to the workers whose water, air and raw materials are indispensable to the inner planets. This constellation produces not a seamless future utopia, but a politically charged panorama in which even oxygen is a social issue.

At first, the story centers on the disappearance of activist Julie Mao. Her case brings together investigator Joe Miller on Ceres, freighter captain James Holden and diplomat Chrisjen Avasarala. What begins as a crime plot unfolds into a conspiracy story of considerable force. “The Expanse” allows itself spaceships, alien technologies and major battles, yet never loses sight of the people who must live with their decisions in engine rooms, corridors and council chambers.

What is particularly appealing is the physical precision of this future. Weightlessness is not merely a pretty effect here, but an ordeal for bodies and everyday life; acceleration comes at a price, and the vastness of space does not make closeness any easier. The series, based on the novel cycle by James S. A. Corey, understands technology as part of a social order. Those with access to water, propulsion or medical care possess more than comfort.

This world feels credible despite its scale partly because of its language and social environments. The inhabitants of the belt, often called Belters, have developed their own expressions, their own tone and their own political experience. The term refers to people whose lives take place on stations and rocks between the planets. They represent a population that no longer wants to be treated as a footnote to Earth.

“The Expanse” began in 2015 and spans six seasons. Its lasting appeal does not lie in claiming to predict the future with precision. Rather, it shows how quickly technological expansion can carry old hierarchies along with it – only farther from the Sun. Valiere’s return to the series is a reminder that good science fiction does not need a crystal ball. A sharp eye for the present is often entirely enough.