Though the TV series wrapped up at the end of season 6, The Expanse possesses three more novels and multiple novellas in the series that continue the stories of 11 characters. On January 14, 2022, Amazon Prime released the sixth and final season of the hit sci-fi show The Expanse. Based on the eponymous book series by James S. A. Corey, The Expanse adapts approximately one book per season with three books left over. Additionally, they utilized short stories and novellas to round out the TV show's plot.
Though it didn't wrap up the entire book series, The Expanse feels complete at the end of season 6 due to the fact that there's a thirty-year time jump between the sixth book and the seventh. As such, it was a natural stopping point for the series. The seventh book picks up as Admiral Winston Duarte and his rogue fleet return from Laconia to take over every civilization connected to the Ring Station. This leads to plenty more events involving the characters fans know and love.
10 James Holden
After the thirty-year time jump (which occurs at the end of The Expanse season 6), Holden retires as Rocinante's co-captain, passing the title onto Bobbie Draper. He and the rest of the ship's crew join the resistance at the Laconian-captured Medina Station, helping with a plan to steal secret information regarding the weapons of the Laconian Military. When the scheme goes awry, Holden's captured and taken to Medina Station. Governor Santiago Singh realizes, after interrogating Holden, that he possesses valuable insight about the race that killed the protomolecule creators. As such, he's shipped to Laconia where he meets the once-missing Admiral Duarte.
Four years later, James Holden is a cherished prisoner on Laconia and begins using his fame to drive a wedge between Duarte and Cortazar. He seems to succeed in his mission as he helps get Cortazar killed and puts a biologist named Elvi Okoye in the role of science directorate. After Holden is released and boards the Rocinante prior to The Siege of Laconia, he is warned by the rebuilt Amos that the dark gods are planning to wipe out humanity.
Holden begins going by the name Jim because the Laconian conflict changed him fundamentally. He and Amos begin protecting Teresa as she begins boarding school, but this plans ends after they're attacked. Aboard the Rocinante, Holden and the others attempt to discover Duarte's plan. After an emotional conversation with Naomi, Holden extracts Protomolecule from the ship and injects it into himself. Holden boards the Ring Station with Teresa and a defective Laconian officer.
As they attempt to find Duarte, Holden starts deteriorating in strength and abilities. He and Miller fend off the sentries in the Ring Station, taking up more of his abilities. After Duarte's killed, Holden takes his place as the controller of the Ring Station. Holden tells Naomi to evacuate everyone. Once the last ship leaves, Holden uses his last bit of eneergy to blow up the Ring Station, perishing in the process.
9 Naomi Nagata
If fans thought Naomi Nagata's ending in The Expanse was dark, then they'll be sad to hear that life didn't get much better for her afterward. At the start of book 7, Naomi retires from the captainship of the Rocinante alongside Holden. She works with Clarissa on a plot to deactivate the Medina Station's sensor system, but is betrayed by a double agent. Sadly, this leads to Clarissa losing her life as she sacrifices herself to help Naomi escape (something which deeply affects her in the long run).
Eventually, Naomi becomes a leader in the resistance, meeting up with Bobbie to discuss approaches for an upcoming mission surrounding Laconia. Although she makes an ingenious move by destroying Laconia's ability to create new ships and antimatter, the resistance ships must soon retreat due to the Laconian battleship, Whirlwind, entering the siege and her crew failing to cement a deal with the opposition. Nevertheless, she doesn't give up as she attempts to barter a deal again later on (this time it works out for everyone involved).
Naomi later decides to lead the resistance from the Rocinante, and once her and the Falcon crew locate Duarte, she parts ways with Holden. While Holden's team enters Ring Station, Naomi prepares her fleets against the incoming ships. They enter the battle with both sides destroying many ships. Holden notifies Naomi to evacuate the space within the Ring. She organizes everyone, and they all evacuate. Naomi leaves for the Sol system, and that's the last she's heard of in The Expanse books.
8 Bobbie Draper
After taking over as the Rocinante's captain, Bobbie Draper helps lead the resistance plot to steal information about the Laconians. Later in the book, Draper leads an attack on the Gathering Storm, a Laconian Pulsar attack destroyer. She gains control of the ship and leads multiple ships, including the Rocinante, to the Freehold planet. Draper then takes the Gathering Storm to a nearby moon and becomes its captain.
Four years later in The Expanse book series, Bobbie leads the mission to intercept a freighter's cargo parts for a Laconian Navy ship. After successfully capturing the anti-matter cargo, she decides they must use it against the Laconians. When Bobbie sets out to use the anti-matter in bombs against Laconian ships, the plan quickly devolves into chaos. Bobbie realizes she can't survive and sacrifices herself in order to take out their target.
7 Amos Burton
Thirty years after The Expanse season 6, the Rocinante crew work with the Medina Station resistance to take down the Laconians. Amos works with Bobbie to either take down or take over the Gathering Storm. He spends the rest of this book on the ship trying to understand the alien technology. Later on, he goes undercover in a mission to infiltrate Laconia and explode the capital. He then takes on the name Timothy and becomes friends with Winston Duarte's daughter Teresa.
Although many wondered if Amos would live to see the end of this book (particularly since he accrued some brutal and life-threatening injuries while protecting Teresa), the mechanic does defy the odds and helps the Rocinante and the resistance in the Siege of Laconia. He also plays a pivotal part in the story as readers later helps the crew defeat Duarte by gathering information to his secret plans. The last everyone sees of him is when a linguist lands on Earth a thousand years after this and reveals that Amos had helped the planet recover from the events of The Expanse.
6 Clarissa "Peaches" Mao
In The Expanse book seven, Clarissa's grown sick due to her age and leaking implants. During the rebellion against the Laconians, Clarissa, Naomi, and an operative named Jordao must sabotage Medina Station's sensor system. Unfortunately, Jordao betrays these two. In order save Naomi, Clarissa activates her implants, taking out the Laconians and Jordao. Due to the exertion, she dies in Naomi's arms.
5 Admiral Winston Duarte
Duarte says he has god to kill at the end of The Expanse season 6, but then he disappears for thirty years in the books. At the start of The Expanse book 7, Admiral Winston Duarte and his fleet return from Laconia to take over 1,300 worlds including the Sol system, the Medina Station, and the Ring Station. He's not directly involved in the action, instead using people as pawns to do his dirty work. Additionally, Duarte has used Protomolecule technology to turn himself into a super-powered being who doesn't sleep and can read thoughts.
Four years later, Duarte is the leader of the Laconian Empire. He starts taking his daughter to political meetings, preparing her to lead Laconia. When ships begin experiencing time skips in the Ring Network, Duarte commands the navy to conduct a weapons test that causes a bomb ship to explode. In retaliation, the dark gods create the time skips - which destabilize a neutron star and causes radiation and large-scale destruction. As a result of this, Duarte falls into a waking coma where he's detached from reality because he's susceptible to the time skips. He only recovers from the coma because he wants to protect Teresa.
After a cryptic message about The Empire thinking too small, Duarte disappears on a ship. Later, the ship is located on the Ring Station. Through mind dives, Amos learns that Duarte is trying to become the God-Emperor of humans at the center of a hive consciousness (which meant he was trying to control various sentries to take down his enemies). Although Naomi Nagata tries to kill Duarte by breaking his neck, they only succeed in getting rid of the villain ripping him into pieces.
4 Camina Drummer
In many ways, Camina Drummer became the hero of The Expanse season 6. At the start of The Expanse book seven, Camina Drummer is the president of the Transport Union and is attempting to get the colony on Freehold under control. When the Laconian battleship Tempest attacks the Sol system, Drummer surrenders to prevent more deaths. Drummer moves to the Laconian capital and lives a quiet life, not appearing in any other part of The Expanse.
3 Chrisjen Avasarala
After the events of The Expanse season 6, Chrisjen Avasarala doesn't appear in the sixth The Expanse book. It's never revealed what she's doing during the span of this book. At the beginning of the seventh book, Holden attends the funeral of Avasarala who died in her sleep four months prior.
2 Filip Inaros
Though Filip doesn't appear in any of the last three The Expanse novels, he's the central figure in the novella The Sins of Our Fathers. Filip doesn't return to the Sol system or his mother. Instead, he's a part of the settlement on the planet Jannah which is struggling to stay alive due to the native creatures. In an attempt at redemption, he kills Jandro, a cruel and sadistic leader with high allegiance in the society. He then goes into self-imposed exile to punish himself for acting in violence.
1 Xan and Cara Bisset
Between The Expanse season 6 finale and Persepolis Rising, Xan and Cara die and are brought back to life by Laconian Repair Droids. The rebuild causes their skin to turn gray and eyes black. Additionally, Xan and Cara gain access to all the Library's information. They're taken captive for experimentation, and the results spur Duarte's interest in immortality.
In the ninth book, Xan and Cara are used aboard the Falcon by Elvi Okoye to access information from The Library related to the alien civilization that created the protomolecule. Eventually, Okoye stops using Xan and focuses all her efforts on Cara. The continued use of Cara causes her to develop an addiction to the dives, experiencing withdrawal when they stop. This is where Xan and Cara's story ends in The Expanse books.