LOS ANGELES, May 29 — Cancelled by SyFy, acclaimed sci-fi show The Expanse will have its fourth season distributed by Amazon’s Prime Video online service.

Following SyFy’s announcement that it would not be continuing with The Expanse past its late June conclusion, Amazon Studios has acquired the series for the foreseeable future.

Set some 200 years from now, The Expanse takes place at a time when tensions are rising between the United Nations on Earth, a human Martian empire, and the Outer Planets Alliance.

The Canadian-made show follows a space freighter’s crew and their unlikely allies, all caught up in an interplanetary conspiracy to promote war and water shortages, rather than peace and prosperity, in a bid to preserve wealth, power, and life for a few and the almost certain destruction of humanity for everyone else.

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Based on a James S. A. Corey novel series — a pen name for writing pair Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck — The Expanse TV series has been praised for its production values, characters, world-building and story.

Among regular cast members, Steven Strait (hotel crime drama Magic City), Dominique Tipper (Vampire Academy), Cas Anvar (Room), and Wes Chatham (The Hunger Games) comprise the ship’s crew.

Thomas Jane of Deep Blue Sea and Thin Red Line is the detective on a missing persons case that strikes at the heart of the conspiracy, Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo (24, The Punisher, the Destiny video games) a high-ranking United Nations executive, and New Zealander Frankie Adams (Shortland Street) as a Martian soldier with knowledge of a secret superweapon programme.

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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is understood to be a fan of the series.

As well as owning and operating the digital retail giant, he also founded spaceflight company Blue Origin, and announced the acquisition of The Expanse during a May 26 event at 2018’s International Space Development Conference.

Amazon Prime Video rival, Netflix, had distributed the first two seasons of The Expanse outside of North America, while Amazon had shared US broadcasting duties with SyFy. — AFP-Relaxnews