Back when Apple TV+ launched in 2019, nobody could have predicted that the tech giant would ride so high in the original sci-fi series streaming game. Foundation, Silo, Severance, and Invasion have helped cement this streamer’s reputation, and the granddaddy of them all, For All Mankind, is still kicking. The alternate space-race-history series is gearing up for a fifth season while a spin off, Star City, is preparing to tell the Russian-cosmonauts side of the story.
How long can For All Mankind realistically last? Co-creator Matt Wolpert told Den Of Geek that he (along with co-creators Ronald D. Moore and Ben Nedivi) initially planned for seven seasons, and they’re sticking with it. Apple TV+ announced the fifth season with a declaration that “The future is written in the stars,” so let’s talk about what we can expect from the next leap for mankind.
Plot
Since each For All Mankind season leaps about a decade into the future, viewers will not be surprised to learn that this remains the M.O.
That provides for plenty of cooling off time between the asteroid heist plan conceived by Dev Ayesa (Edi Gathegi) and agreed to by Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman), several decades after the show’s 1969 launching point when the Soviet Union beat the U.S. to the Moon. As is customary, the fifth season will quickly dive into a montage to review what has transpired (after the fourth season’s expansion on Mars) in the most recent decade, and the show should pick up in alternate-history 2012. Valid questions do remain on whether Ed remains onboard with Happy Valley following his visibly declining health.
Ben Nedivi told Slashfilm that the montage-making process is as “hellish” as it seems, and although Apple TV+ has been quiet about the forthcoming plot, the co-creators conceded to Variety that we might see some legacy characters begin to retire. At this time, no concrete hints point toward Ed Baldwin heading toward the Martian sunset, but we might have seen the last of Margo (Wrenn Schmidt) following her imprisonment, and Dani (Krys Marshall) miraculously landed back on earth with Marshall previously telling Entertainment Weekly that she had no clue whether her character was done with the series.
Rest assured that Mars will very much remain a setting in the fifth season, as revealed by Deadline’s casting news for new characters on the red planet. As expected, though, fifth-season secrecy has permeated every bit of press from the show’s creatives, but Matt Wolpert did tell Variety that the fourth-season asteroid heist by Dev will not be forgotten when the series picks up:
“Dev felt like the right character, because from the beginning of his introduction on the show, he has had this vision of what the space program could be, and specifically what life on Mars could be. He’s starting to see his vision come to fruition at the end of this season, so it felt like both showing him be content with what’s done to this point, and still looking to the future of what’s next. In terms of the asteroid, it is mining equipment you see, but let’s just say it will definitely play a role in Season 5 in a way we can’t quite say yet.”
In addition to the near silence on a plot synopsis for this fifth season, Apple TV+ hasn’t disclosed whether Star City will launch in between For All Mankind seasons, although since franchise creators want to continue for at least three more seasons of the Kinnaman-starring show, timing overlap seems likely.
Cast
Series creatives haven’t revealed whether returning Joel Kinnaman will be accompanied back to the aging-makeup chair by Wrenn Schmidt, Edi Gathegi, Cynthy Wu, Coral Peña, Krys Marshall, Tyner Rushing, Daniel Stern, Toby Kebbell, and/or Svetlana Efremova.
New series regulars include Mireille Enos and Costa Ronin along with Sean Kaufman as Alex Poletov Baldwin, grandson of Kinnaman’s Ed Baldwin. Ruby Cruz is onboard as Lily Dale, and Ines Asserson will portray U.S. Marine A.J. Jarrett, who’s gearing up for a space mission. Additionally, Barrett Carnahan (recently seen as Young Kreese in Cobra Kai) will portray a young adult, Marcus, living on Mars after high school graduation.
Release Date
Apple TV+ announced the fifth season in April 2024 (the fourth season debuted in November 2023), and the series has generally returned after less than two years.
Trailer
No trailer, but the DMX needle drop after the below “Do you want to help me steal an asteroid?” line can go hard enough for now.
