10 Beloved TV Shows SAVED By Fans
8. The Expanse
Unsurprisingly, The Expanse, a story about a future in which humanity has colonized the solar system, originally aired on Syfy.
After three seasons, the network made the decision not to buy any future seasons from producers Alcon Entertainment, citing restrictive distribution arrangements.
The show's steadfast fanbase were not best pleased, and decided to lobby for behemoth streaming platforms Netflix or Amazon to pick up The Expanse. They staged the usual protest, circulating a petition which gained over 100,000 signatures, with celebrities such as Wil Wheaton, Patton Oswalt and George R. R. Martin backing the campaign.
Alongside this conventional approach, fans also crowdfunded a stunt involving an aeroplane flying a #SaveTheExpanse banner over Amazon Studios. Shortly after that, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced that Amazon had indeed picked up the show for additional seasons.
The Expanse has since aired two further seasons on Amazon Prime Video, and a sixth and final season has been announced. The creative and unexpected passion of the show's fans was enough to secure its future, and it was done by lobbying to a billionaire using an aircraft. What a strange world we live in.