It originally premiered on Amazon Prime in the United States on January 14, 2022, written by Daniel Abraham, Ty Franck, and Naren Shankar, and directed by Breck Eisner.
Filip (Jasai Chase Owens), disillusioned with his father's goals after the death of Rosenfeld Guoliang (Kathleen Robertson), quietly leaves the Pella in a small ship and takes the name 'Filip Nagata'.
Bobbie Draper (Frankie Adams) manages to single-handedly destroy the power source for the rail guns, rendering them inert, and the Rocinante wipes out the remaining Free Navy fighters.
Knowing that Inaros' Free Navy fleet is on its way, Naomi Nagata (Dominique Tipper) suggests that instead of trying to mount a counter-attack, they instead concentrate on awakening the entities dormant within the Ring.
Believing she is also killing her son aboard the Pella, she momentarily hesitates before detonating the Giambattista's energy core, serving as the catalyst that awakens the Ring entities which waste no time in obliterating Marco Inaros and his ship.
Clarissa Mao (Nadine Nicole), discovering that the enhancements she had received have considerably shortened her life, chooses to remain aboard the ship as a mechanic under Amos (Wes Chatham).
Earth's Secretary General Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) then proposes that the trade union be independent, based at Medina Station and led by someone without allegiances to any faction; she nominates Holden, as he would be an acceptable choice amongst all three groups.
The episode, entitled "Babylon's Ashes", was written by show creators Daniel Abraham, Ty Franck, and Naren Shankar, using the same title as the sixth book of the novel series, and directed by Breck Eisner.
During a New York Comic Con panel discussion alongside members of the cast, Shankar noted the difficulty of adapting the amount of detail from the sixth book and the novella, which translated to each episode being intense.
"[4] Over a year later, fellow Polygon writer Charlie Hall interviewed Authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck – who collectively wrote The Expanse novels using the pseudonym James S.A. Corey – preferred to think of the series as "at a very natural pause point" for the story, considering the idea of being canceled as "outmoded".
"[6] To emphasize the aforementioned claustrophobic feel, the set piece the assault team's descent to the Ring Station took place inside of cargo containers; Franck and Shankar describe them as "Porta Potties dropped out of space".
During the Rocinante's attack on the Ring's rail gun emplacements, the names of several prominent characters from science fiction books, television and film were listed on a video screen depicting the various members of the strike team.
Among the names listed were as follows:[8] Alpha Team: Gial Ackbar from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi; Douglas Quaid from Total Recall; David Bowman from 2001: A Space Odyssey; Commander Shepard from Mass Effect; Duncan Idaho from Dune; Alex Rogan from The Last Starfighter; Jason Nesmith from Galaxy Quest and Edward Buck from Halo.
Bravo Team: Shaenon K. Garrity, a sci-fi author and webcomic creator; Ellen Ripley, Dwayne Hicks, Hudson and Vasquez from the Alien films; Joseph Cooper, from Interstellar; John Anderton from Minority Report; Rick Deckard from Blade Runner and Jack O'Neill from Stargate.
Charlie Team: Lucky Starr, a character from the Isaac Asimov book series of the same name; Louise Banks from Arrival; Kevin Flynn from Tron; Ron (sic) Neary from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind; Johnny Rico from Starship Troopers; Kara Thrace from Battlestar Galactica; Sarah Connor, from the Terminator; Ryan Stone from Gravity and William Riker from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The "Expanse Aftershow S6E6" produced by Amazon Studios and hosted by Wes Chatham and Ty Franck discussed the finale at length with Dominique Tipper and Steven Strait, focusing on the development of the characters Holden and Nagata as well as the end of the season (and the series).
Strait further noted that his overarching goal during the series to portray the natural and realistic growth as a leader, especially with his character's "messy 'strength through humility,' and a very different kind of masculinity, based on empathy and sensitivity."
Both are epic stories that focus on politics and the exercise of power, but "where the latter is a Tolkien-esque world of magic, dragons and full-frontal nudity, The Expanse chooses space as its arena of choice ... the "sci-fi Game of Thrones" tag isn't entirely undeserved, then, and George R.R.
Catig considers the quiet scene of the family meal held aboard the Rocinante before the storm of combat "heartwarming, with the survivors of the original crew along side former adversaries turned allies.
All of this "signposting" setup, Elvy opines, could lead to a season seven or at the least a movie that covers the last three books, later stating that all of that strongly suggests that the "reports of the Rocinante's retirement have been greatly exaggerated".