As New York Comic Con adapts to the global pandemic, the cast of The Expanse put on a virtual panel to hype up fans for the show’s fifth season.

Cast member Dominique Tipper, who plays Naomi Nagata, served as moderator for the virtual panel that included Steven Strait (James Holden), Wes Chatham (Amos Burton), Frankie Adams (Bobbie Draper), Cara Gee (Camina Drummer), Shohreh Aghdashloo (Chrisjen Avasarala), showrunner & executive producer Naren Shankar, and co-authors/executive producers Ty Franck and Daniel Abarham (the writing team behind the James S.A. Corey pen-name).

Avasarala’s new reality

After her rise to U.N. secretary general in season four, Avasarala is now out of a job, out of a husband, and nearly directionless. Aghdashloo points out that losing everything brings a bit of clarity for the sharp politician.

“She doesn’t feel like a loser. She feels like she’s wiser,” Aghdashloo said. “She understands a lot more about what’s going on now.”

As for what the fifth season holds, Aghdashloo characterized Avasarala’s point of view this way: “She’s finally finding out that running for an office is a lot harder than getting shit done.”

Bobbie Draper’s new direction

Frankie Adams teased a bit about Bobbie and Alex going off on their own adventure, and she talked about Bobbie’s expanded worldview (galaxyview?).

“She’s a bit lost,” Adams said of Bobbie. “But I think she has much more of a connection to the greater good, overall, rather than just what’s great for Mars.” Adams sounded excited for the shift from Bobbie’s more provincial attitudes, building on a foundation of four seasons worth of character development.

Expectations for season five

Teasing the upcoming fifth season, Tipper cryptically said: “I call this our Infinity War.”

So when does it arrive?

The first three episodes drop on December 16th only on Amazon Prime, with one episode released a week after that.

Check out the panel:

“The Expanse” Season 5 Release & NYCC Metaverse Panel