We prove that solutions to linear wave equations in a subextremal Kerr-de Sitter spacetime have asymptotic expansions in quasinormal modes up to a decay order given by the normally hyperbolic trapping, extending the result of the second named author (2013). The main novelties are a different way of obtaining a Fredholm setup that defines the quasinormal modes and a new analysis of the trapping of lightlike geodesics in the Kerr-de Sitter spacetime, both of which apply in the full subextremal range. In particular, this reduces the question of decay for solutions to wave equations to the question of mode stability.