100-Episode Expanse Replacement Is One Of Netflix's Most-Watched Sci-Fi Shows

Published Oct 17, 2026, 2:00 AM EDT

Zach Moser has been writing for ScreenRant since 2022, covering movies, classic TV, and streaming TV. His areas of expertise cover a wide range of genres with a particular interest in horror and drama, and the conversations around the TV and film industry. When he's not covering the latest film releases or chronicling the latest season of a new show, he's writing humor pieces for McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Slackjaw, and Points In Case or working on short stories and his second novel. 

There is a 100-episode replacement for The Expanse available on Netflix, and it's one of the most-watched series on the streaming service. The Expanse is a Syfy network science fiction series that was brought to Amazon Prime in 2019, which gave the show three more seasons and a finale.

Based on James S.A. Corey's novel series of the same name, The Expanse is set in a future where humanity has managed to colonize the Solar System. Three empires have formed to rule this expanse, and the show observes a different version of humanity and their response to an existential crisis they never saw coming.

If you enjoyed The Expanse, you'll certainly like The 100, a 100-episode science fiction show that premiered on the CW in 2014 and ended in 2020. It's since been acquired by Netflix, where it has become one of the most watched shows on the streamer, and for good reason.

Based on Kass Morgan's young adult novel series, The 100 is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama set 97 years after a nuclear apocalypse wiped out most human life on Earth. The survivors took to massive space stations orbiting Earth, and now, three generations later, 100 juvenile detainees are sent down to Earth to determine if it's inhabitable.

They discover that not only have some humans survived the apocalypse, but a sort of society has grown in the rubble, and their attempts to create a new one come into conflict with the ones that are already there. A thrilling, seven-season series, The 100 is a great choice for anyone looking for series like The Expanse.

The 100 Is Netflix's Third Most-Watched Science Fiction TV Show

The 100 is Netflix's third most-watched science fiction series, with 92,800,000 views, according to FlixPatrol. FlixPatrol uses data from Netflix's engagement report, which only started being published in 2023, meaning that viewing numbers are off from the real numbers, but the shows' relative positions to one another should be accurate.

The only two science fiction shows with more views are Black Mirror with 202,800,000 and The Thundermans, a children's show, with 97,908,000. Three Body Problem, A Discovery of Witches, and Resident Alien round out the top six. The 100, while not a Netflix original, has captured the attention of Netflix subscribers anyway.

Fans Of The Expanse Will Love The 100

Credit: MovieStillsDB

The Expanse and The 100 do have very different tones and scopes, with The Expanse being an epic, sweeping, hard sci-fi series, and The 100 being more of a teen drama with science fiction elements, but their stories are not dissimilar. In both, we're dealing with a version of humanity far removed from the one we are a part of.

Both shows also expressly deal with colonization, and the reverberations that come from that. Even far into the future, the idea of taking land and pushing people off it has all the same delicate issues and horrific impacts as it does in our real-world history. In both series, the people in charge know less about what they're doing than they pretend to as well.

The 100 and The Expanse present a vision of humanity as a race capable of surviving anything, and it's always impressive to see. At the same time, both shows observe that no matter how far into the future we get or how high the obstacles are that we overcome, we still often default to some of the more base human instincts.