The Expanse's showrunner Naren Shankar has divulged how the show's upcoming Season 5 will be thematically exploring the "sins of the past" before teasing how everything "comes to a head all at the same time," suggesting heavy stakes for all involved.

"I'll give you the theme, because that's probably the easiest way to look at it. The theme really is about the sins of the past," Shankar explained to EW. "To one extent or another, that's every single story line, whether it is Naomi personally confronting the fact that she had a son with this very charismatic, and now quite violent, revolutionary-type leader. Whether it's Amos connecting to his past, or going back to Earth for reasons that we're not quite sure of. Whether it's Holden's past with unleashing the protomolecule. Whether it is the past geopolitical history of the Belt, and its relationship with the inner planets, which we see through Avasarala."

RELATED: The Expanse: What Bobbie Discovered on Mars

According to Shankar, these thematic ideas crossing over with the story and character arcs of The Expanse encapsulates what's in store for Season 5: "It is connecting all of the things that we have done in our lives to the moment of the present that we are in. It's like everything comes to a head all at the same time."

Season five of the series picks up as multitudes of humans leave the solar system in search of new homes and vast fortunes on the earth-like worlds beyond the alien Ring, and a heavy price for centuries of exploitation of the Belt finally comes due and a reckoning is at hand.

An adaptation of the novel series of the same name by James S.A. Corey, The Expanse stars Steven Strait, Cas Anvar, Dominique Tipper, Wes Chatham, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Frankie Adams. Season 5 premieres Dec. 16 on Amazon Prime Video.

KEEP READING: The Expanse: The Belters' Language Is Excellent - Here's Why

Source: EW