History Series / TheExpanse

* DirtyCop: Star Helix is generally accepted to care more about their owners' profits than the law. [[spoiler: Later, Miller's boss is revealed to be working for OPA boss Dawes, when she fires Miller in order to cover up whatever it was Julie Mao was investigating for the OPA.]]

* InSpaceEveryoneCanSeeYourFace: Space suits have lighted strips along the sides.

** Belter stations are dangerous places to live, with rampant crime and corruption along with strict water and air rationing (drug use is ignored while water theft is harshly punished). The Belter working class are stuck in highly dangerous jobs and forced to live in tight quarters. The average Cerean life expectancy is 68 years (just around current averages) while Earthers can expect to live twice as long while Martians are said to live even longer than that.

* ConLang: The Belters speak a patois that features words from Russian, Turkish, German, and others (Chinese is also heard in station announcements) with incorporated hand gestures ([[AllThereInTheManual due to the need to communicate in spacesuits]]). The subtitles call it "Belter Creole". They also continue to speak English, using an accent that sounds vaguely Afrikaans.

* [[UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} Mormons in Space]]: the LDS Church is an active and large presence in the solar system, based on Earth but with missionaries seen on Ceres, etc. Their leadership is determined to be the first group to settle a planet in another solar system (to escape PopulationControl on the books), so they have invested a fortune in developing a huge GenerationShip, the ''Nauvoo''. Given the hard sci fi limits of the setting, it can't exceed the speed of light, so it is a multi-generational ship whose voyage is intended to last at least 100 years.

* AbsentAliens: Justified, as the show is set in our own solar system a mere two hundred years in the future.

** Particularly notable, as not only does her boss ''chew her out'' for it (though he doesn't punish her), but the captured man's such a {{Badass}} that he wrestles out of the gravity-treating drugs during the multi-G transit to Luna for further interrogation - simply to point out to his captors that '''it wasn't going to work no matter how long they left him on those hooks!'''

** Although Earthers live in comfort and enjoy long life expectancies, it is becoming harder and harder to maintain current living standards. Earth is suffering from dramatic rises in the sea level due to global warming and unchecked population growth has meant most available land has been built over. In the show's time-setting, a 22-acre farm in Montana[[note]]an average 21st-century farm in the US is 441 acres[[/note]] is considered to be an extravagant sign of wealth.

** Fred Johnson, a leader in the OPA is revealed to have [[spoiler: once been a UN Marine Colonel who destroyed a Belter station that had been hijacked by it mutinying crew, even though they were trying to surrender.]]
* DarkerAndEdgier: The novels are by no means all fluffy bunnies and sunshine, but the show definitely takes a darker interpretation to the material.

** The Earth's UN Ambassador to Mars is openly in a male same-sex marriage.

** The term "mickey" is thrown around a few times and the context suggests it refers to things and people from the Martian navy.

-->There are no laws on Ceres, just cops.

** Interplanetary travel is commonplace but still takes some time. However, it seems the trips take a fraction of the time it takes now. Pilots are shown sling-shotting their way across the solar system to try and break speed and distance records for un-powered flight. One man had gone from Earth to Jupiter in 12 days and was projecting that he'd make it to Uranus in 29 days before a miscalculation burns him up in Jupiter's atmosphere.

* [[UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} Mormons in Space]]: the LDS Church is an active and large presence in the solar system, based on Earth but with missionaries seen on Ceres, etc. Their leadership is determined to be the first group to settle a planet in another solar system (to escape PopulationControl on the books), so they have invested a fortune in developing a huge GenerationShip, the ''Nauvoo''. Given the hard scifi limits of the setting, it can't exceed the speed of light, so it is a multi-generational ship whose voyage is intended to last at least 100 years.

* SpacePirates: They are noted to be a problem for regular cargo haulers, and there is even a corporate protocol for such cases: give up the cargo, then negotiate a ransom for any captured crewmembers.

* SuicideAttack: A belter who's been pushed one time too many flies his ship straight into the Martians who messed him over.

* ThrownOutTheAirlock: Miller nearly suffers this at the hands of Dawes' minions, though Olivia rescues him. Earlier, the belter Mateo, who's been screwed over by the Martians, launches his nephew out in an EVA suit before he takes his ship on a suicide attack against them.

* GenerationShips: ''LDSS Nauvoo'' is a generation ship funded by the Mormons to make a 100-year journey to another solar system in the hopes of colonizing a new world.

* ThrownOutTheAirlock: Miller nearly suffers this at the hands of Dawes' minions, though Olivia rescues him. Earlier, the belter Mateo, who's been screwed over by the Martians, launches his nephew out in an EVA suit before he launches his ship on a suicide attack.

* ThrownOutTheAirlock: Miller nearly suffers this at the hands of Dawes' minions, though Olivia rescues him. Earlier, the belter Mateo who's screwed over by the Martians launches his nephew out in an EVA suit before he launches his ship on a suicide attack.

* ThrownOutTheAirlock: Miller nearly suffers this at the hands of Dawes' thugs, though Olivia rescues him. Earlier, the belter Mateo who's screwed over by the Martians launches his nephew out in an EVA suit before he launches his ship on a suicide attack.

->A man's got to stand up!

-->A man's got to stand up!

* LivingLieDetector: ''Donnager'''s first officer uses some sort of drug that makes him hyperaware of the microexpressions of those he interrogates.

* HeroicSacrifice: The Martian Marines engage in a battle with the unknown attackers so Holden and his friends can make a run for the shuttle. Only one severely wounded Marine survives.

** [[spoiler: Shed Garvey ]] is trying to calm down a panicking crew mate when his head is taken off by a railgun projectile mid-sentence.