Will the Ring entities prove to be a threat in the future?
What's the deal with Cara's resurrected brother?
Here are the biggest unanswered questions from Season 6 of "The Expanse."
Admiral Duarte is first mentioned in the final episode of Season 5 when Admiral Sauveterre
congratulates Marco on behalf of Duarte and informs him that the Laconia system is now
under their control.
For book readers, this is a tantalizing morsel, as Duarte is the villain of the seventh and
eighth "Expanse" novels.
Although that story takes place 30 years in the future in the books, the show indicates
Duarte has already started down whatever path he plans to take.
Duarte is one of the leaders of the rogue Martian faction that exchanges the Martians'
advanced weapons technology with Marco for a sample of the protomolecule and the protomolecule
expert Dr. Paolo Cortazar.
His choice to settle on Laconia appears to be strategic, as at the end of Season 5, an
alien spacecraft is seen hovering above the planet.
When Duarte finally appears in the fourth episode of Season 6, he is interrupted at
a funeral by Cortazar, who arrives to inform him that he's made contact with the dormant
alien craft — presumably by using the protomolecule.
In the series finale, Duarte is shown looking up at the craft, and then later in the episode,
he brushes off Marco, informing him:
"You were a useful distraction, but I have gods to kill."
While it's not clear what this means, Duarte seems to have big plans that involve using
the protomolecule to gain power over alien technology.
Throughout Season 6, the story of young Laconian girl Cara gets more attention than that of
Admiral Duarte.
From the first episode, it's clear that Cara spends a great deal of her time with the native
wildlife of Laconia and seems to know all the species.
Yet on a trip to the forest, she discovers a new animal tentatively looking at her, which
she labels a dog.
When one of the birds she knows gets sick and dies, the Laconian dog resurrects it,
and Cara is elated to have it back.
"You fixed her!
You fixed her!
You fix things!"
Shortly afterward, her younger brother Xan dies after being hit by a car.
Not wanting to lose her brother, Cara takes Xan's body to the Laconian dogs in the forest,
and after he's been resurrected, brings him back home.
Instead of being happy to see their son alive, however, Cara's parents are terrified.
Cara's father even brandishes a knife against Xan, but a gash he inflicts on Xan's hand
heals almost immediately.
Realizing the adults could take him away again, Cara escapes into the forest with Xan.
There, the show depicts the world from Xan's point of view — a perspective filtered through
the blue lens of the protomolecule.
Like others who have been infected by the protomolecule, Xan retains some of his own
memories, but he's not entirely himself, either.
And that means he is probably exceedingly dangerous to everyone on Laconia, starting
with Cara.
In Season 6, Holden learns that some ships went missing while passing through the Ring
gate.
"It's like a hole suddenly opens in the floor.
And if someone falls in, they're gone."
Holden suspects this is the work of angry alien entities within the Ring that may be
waking up because of the humans now slipping through.
To Holden, this is a bigger problem than even the war between the Inner Planets and Marco.
Not only does it mean that some ships are vanishing without a trace, but it also means
the whole System could incur the wrath of the aliens that eradicated the protomolecule's
creators.
Holden's initial impulse is to tell everyone about the problem — including Marco — but
it turns out to be a good thing that he doesn't; in the final battle with Marco, Naomi and
the crew of the Rocinante use this knowledge to their advantage.
Notably, Marco manages to defeat the Inners and is on the verge of victory.
But as he approaches the Ring, the Roci pushes anything they can through it in order to reach
the energy threshold that will trigger the Ring entities.
Ultimately, Marco and his ship dematerialize as they pass through the Ring, ending the
humans' war.
However, as Holden observes, this could also wake the Ring entities permanently.
While things seem quiet in the immediate aftermath of the battle, could the entities already
be awake?
Or will something else trigger them, leading to even more problems than Marco?
In the last few moments of the series finale, it's revealed that Filip doesn't perish on
the Pella with his father Marco, as his mother Naomi Nagata believes.
Instead, he takes a ship and leaves the Free Navy before the Pella gets to the Ring.
In Season 5, Filip reunites with Naomi for the first time since he was a toddler, and
although Naomi tries to rescue him from Marco's toxic influence, Filip ultimately rejects
Naomi in favor of the father who has always been there for him.
"Everything my father told me about you…is true."
"No, don't go, Filip.
Please…"
Even though she mourned the loss of her son, Naomi seems to have made her peace with her
choice not to sacrifice herself for motherhood.
On the other hand, meeting Naomi leaves Filip remarkably conflicted.
In the season's early episodes, this causes Filip to act out and rebel against his father.
Later, he starts to realize that Marco lies and manipulates people, including him, to
get them to do what he wants.
By the time the final battle arrives, Filip has grown so disenchanted with Marco that
he finally breaks free from his father and even decides to take his mother's last name.
This leads to the inevitable question of whether mother and son will ever reunite.
Will Filip search for Naomi?
Or will he keep his distance, making his way in the universe on his own?
While Filip ends the series by rejecting his father, that doesn't mean Marco's influence
doesn't loom large.
After all, he spent his entire childhood as a member of Marco's Free Navy, surrounded
by people who believed in the Belter cause and Marco's violent tactics.
In fact, in the 6th season's fourth episode, he loudly proclaims his loyalty after Camina
Drummer, a fellow Belter, transmits a message announcing she's reclaimed supplies Marco
took from non-Free Navy Belters.
In response, Filip brands Drummer an enemy and claims the Free Navy must pursue their
adversaries without remorse or fear.
"This is war, and it won't be over until we are dead or victorious."
Filip is still young and torn between the beliefs of his father and his mother.
While his desertion of the Free Navy indicates he's embraced his mother's more nuanced and
peaceful way of thinking, old habits die hard.
So although it seems that the System may be entering a time of relative peace, Filip could
still be swayed to join another fraught cause.
And if he does, which way will he go?
Will he look for unity and common ground like his mother?
Or will he follow in his father's footsteps and become a violent authoritarian?
Holden and the crew are all back on the Roci, including Bobbie Draper, the ship's new pilot.
While they're enjoying a period of relative quiet, they still have to decide on their
next move — and it goes without saying that the Roci always manages to become involved
in universe-shattering events.
When Holden and Naomi speak at the end of the episode, Holden mentions they could become
security for freighters passing through the Ring or consultants on one of the Ring colonies.
But he also brings up the fact that they still haven't tracked down the missing protomolecule
sample stolen from Fred Johnson in the 5th season.
This is the sample that Admiral Duarte possesses on Laconia, and while Holden doesn't know
this, his concerns about what happened to the sample likely loom large in his mind.
So while the Roci crew has a number of options, it seems like sooner or later, Holden will
want to pursue the protomolecule again.
This would undoubtedly put him on a collision course with Duarte and whatever he's doing
with the alien technology on Laconia.
Although Holden spent less time dealing with the protomolecule over the last two seasons
of "The Expanse," it seems like this plotline could have become a major part of his and
the Roci's story once again had the show continued.
Perhaps it will sometime in the future.
One of the outcomes of the war with Marco is that the Belters gain a seat at the negotiating
table — but that doesn't mean everyone is happy to have them in a position equal to
Earth and Mars.
Holden uses the negotiations to maneuver Drummer into the position of president of the newly
formed transport union, the independent organization installed to oversee transit through the Ring.
As he observes in the series finale, this upsets quite a few people.
"You duplicitous little s—."
"It was the only way."
The Belters have historically been oppressed by the Inner Planets, and despite recent progress,
a lot of prejudice and suspicion still exists between Earth, Mars, and the Belt.
So the question becomes: Will the Inners continue to share power with the Belters, especially
when the Belters now control the transport union?
Over the course of the show, Chrisjen Avasarala, the current UN secretary-general, has not
only learned to see the value in working together with others toward common goals, but she's
also developed a much softer stance toward Belters.
However, Earth's next leader may not share this position, especially given that Marco,
a Belter, devastates the planet.
Of course, both Earth's and Mars' forces are greatly depleted, so it would be a challenge
for them to take on the Belt now even if they wanted to.
It's hard to say what could happen in the future.
Amos Burton brings Clarissa Mao, Holden's one-time wannabe assassin, onboard the Rocinante
at the end of Season 5.
In Season 6, Clarissa does her best to redeem herself for her indiscretions and eventually
wins over Holden and Naomi and becomes an accepted member of the crew.
Yet Clarissa has been having health problems ever since she used the augmentations implanted
in her body early in the season.
So when she once again feels sick during the series finale, she checks her health in the
medical bay and is diagnosed with complex endocrine collapse syndrome, a condition with
no approved treatment and a life expectancy of only five years.
Given the battle the Roci's about to engage in, perhaps it's not surprising that Clarissa
doesn't mention her failing health to the crew before the fight.
However, though she stays on the Roci following the conclusion of the war, it appears she
continues to keep her medical condition secret.
What will this mean for Clarissa moving forward?
She still feels incredible remorse for the lives she took in pursuit of Holden, so perhaps
she feels she's getting what she deserves.
But it's also possible Clarissa could find a doctor or experimental treatment that could
help her to extend her life.
Will she continue to suffer in silence and accept her fate, or will she decide to fight
for her life?
If you don't like waiting and hoping for a continuation of the series, the books are
sitting on the shelves at the store, waiting to be read.
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