Summary

• The Expanse's open-ended storylines may have been intentionally left unresolved, possibly in the hopes of being picked up by another streaming platform for future seasons.
• Several important storylines, such as the fate of Cara and Xan, the relationship between the Belters and Inners, and Duarte's plan and the missing protomolecule sample, were not wrapped up in the TV series.
• Many of these unresolved storylines are explored in the books of The Expanse series, offering potential answers and explanations that were not explored in the TV show.

The Expanse's ending packed a lot of punches, ending on a high note. But despite the overall strengths, The Expanse didn't wrap up every storyline neatly.

It’s possible The Expanse's writing team left the storylines unresolved on purpose, hoping another streaming platform would pick up the series for three more seasons. After all, the show started out on Syfy, but Amazon picked it up after The Expanse's season 3 cancelation. Unfortunately, no news about The Expanse season 7 has come out in the past two years. As such, the open-ended storylines will remain that way for the foreseeable future, leaving questions about what happens to many of The Expanse characters after the TV show.

6 What Happens to Cara And Xan After They Run Away

This Storyline Continues In The Books Timiat's Wrath And Leviathan Falls

After the Laconian dogs in The Expanse resurrect Xan, the siblings’ parents react horrified, and their father calls for the guards. Ultimately, he and Cara run away to the wilderness to avoid the Laconian authorities. Xan expresses concern for Cara’s safety, and she replies, “It’s okay. If I die, the dogs will fix me.” This quote foreshadows events that The Expanse never ends up exploring.

The Expanse doesn't show whether the pair survive in the woods for any amount of time, an unlikely possibility considering they are both children. Even if Cara dies and the dogs revive her, that raises the question of what Cara and Xan's life will look like as protomolecule-repaired beings. This open-ended storyline feels unfortunate because the Expanse TV series could have left out Cara and Xan's storyline entirely without impacting the plot. Even in the books, the characters don't serve a purpose to the overall narrative until the eighth book, Timiat's Wrath.

5 How the Belters and Inners Maintain Peace

This Storyline Will Be Explored In The Comics Titled The Expanse: Dragon Tooth

Throughout The Expanse, tensions rise between the Belters and the Inners. The Belters struggle to stay alive in poor air and water conditions, but they are under the rule of the Inners. This ongoing tension provides the motivation for Marco Inaros and his Free Navy – a terrorist group that becomes the primary focus of The Expanse season 6. By the series finale, Marco is destroyed by the Ring network anomaly, and the Belters gain control over the council that's in charge of traffic control through the Ring. Sadly, The Expanse doesn’t explore the tension caused by the power shift or how they maintain peace long-term.

Unlike many other unresolved plotlines, this incomplete story actually comes from the Expanse books. Between Babylon's Ashes, the source material for The Expanse season 6, and Persepolis Rising, the next book in the series, 30 years by. The Belters and Inners create a relatively symbiotic relationship after the time jump, leaving readers at a loss about how this happened. Luckily, answers about this time period will finally appear, though not onscreen. The 30-year gap will be explored in the comic book sequel The Expanse: Dragon Tooth.

4 Duarte’s Plan And The Missing Protomolecule Sample

This Storyline Picks Up In The Book Persepolis Rising

Two episodes before The Expanse’s series finale, the show introduces iral Winston Duarte as a new antagonist. By introducing the next villain this late into the game, they set themselves up for an unfinished storyline. Duarte helps Marco and the Free Navy destroy the resistance, using this as a distraction to move the last protomolecule sample through the Ring gate. Duarte’s last line in The Expanse is “I have Gods to kill” – referring to the Ring entities. These episodes and the quote create future storylines and conflicts that never come to fruition.

This is the most frustrating unresolved storyline and, also, the most important one for any future season of The Expanse. If the writers ever hoped to adapt the rest of the Expanse books, even years later, they needed to introduce Duarte and the missing protomolecule sample. Unfortunately, Duarte's storyline seems irrelevant without the rest of the adaptations. The Expanse doesn't need another antagonist this late into the game. The writers could have found another way for Marco and the Free Navy to achieve their destruction.

3 The Fate Of Filip Inaros

This Storyline Ending Is Found In The Novella "The Sins Of Our Father"

In The Expanse, Filip Inaros' storyline initially functions as a way to show that Marco is depraved enough to brainwash his own child. In The Expanse season 6, Filip goes through a meaningful character arc, though, overcoming his father Marco’s manipulation with the help of Naomi. This makes it incredibly bothersome when his story ends with a plot twist. Though he's presumed dead, the last few minutes of The Expanse reveal that Filip changes his last name to Nagata and escapes the destruction of the Pella on a repair skiff. Based on the events of the TV show, it’s unclear what happens to Filip after The Expanse’s finale.

The citizens of the Sol system have faced unspeakable horrors at the hands of Marco, Filip, and the Free Navy. There’s no place where he can escape the guilt of his past, raising the questions of where he will go and what he will do. These questions could have all been avoided with one simple decision – leave out the ending reveal of him escaping the Pella. If a network picked up The Expanse season 7 by some chance, the writers could have easily revealed his escape through a flashback.

2 The Motivations Of The Ring Entities

Storyline Stretches Out Across The Remaining Three Books

The Ring entities in The Expanse – also called the Gods – are the biggest threat on the show, possessing the power to wipe out all-powerful species like the protomolecule creators. Not much is known about these aliens other than the fact that they cause the Ring network anomaly, an event that causes ships above a certain mass threshold to disappear. Additionally, the Gods also seem hellbent on destroying anyone using the protomolecule. Though The Expanse books provide an explanation for the Ring entities’ motivations, the show remains maddeningly vague all the way to the end.

The incomplete storyline in The Expanse would have been fine except for the fact that the Ring network anomaly played such a crucial role in The Expanse season 6. Moreover, the series finale shows the Rocinante using the Ring entities to destroy Marco, knowing it will likely wake the Gods permanently. Given their significance, it’s disappointing that the Ring entities’ motivations never come to light in The Expanse.

1 How Clarissa’s Illness Changes Her Future

Clarissa's Storyline Ending Is Unavailable In The Books

In The Expanse season 6, Clarissa “Peaches” Mao learns that she’s suffering from complex endocrine collapse syndrome, a fictional disease with no cure and a life expectancy of five years. These are made worse by her mods, which she surgically implanted to give her bursts of super strength. While her diagnosis raises the stakes of The Expanse’s conclusion, it also creates a storyline that the show never finishes.

The question remains unanswered whether Clarissa will survive the next five years in The Expanse. As her illness progresses, it’s bound to impact her, but there’s no indication what that will look like in months, let alone years. Because The Expanse changes Clarissa’s book timeline, there are no answers about how her illness plays out in the novels. The Expanse: Dragons Blood also doesn't provide an answer, since those are based on the books, not the TV show. If The Expanse season 7 ever happened on another streaming site, the writers would need to construct an entirely new ending to this tragic, unresolved storyline.