Joel Kinnaman has become something of a sci-fi icon over the last decade, but that may have never happened if he hadn't made the jump from a show that was sinking to the safety of a series that is still one of the best on TV. While he had a history with sci-fi before these two characters in particular, they've since become two of his seminal roles. Sure, the latter may have lasted way longer than the former, but longevity isn't always everything.
Fans of James Gunn's DCU may know Kinnaman best from his role as Rick Flag Jr. After debuting as the character in 2016's Suicide Squad, Gunn recalled Kinnaman to the role for the standalone sequel in 2021: The Suicide Squad. Despite making his exit in the 2021 movie, Kinnaman was able to make a brief return in Peacemaker season 2 thanks to the magic of flashbacks. DC's public profile means Rick Flag Jr. is among the actor's most famous characters. However, Rick is far from Kinnaman's best. The best characters he's played to date happened in back-to-back years.
Joel Kinnaman's 2019 For All Mankind casting made up for his Altered Carbon exit in 2018
Sci-fi is obviously a broad term that can apply to a whole host of subgenres. This diversity is on perfect display when Netflix's Altered Carbon is held up against Apple TV's For All Mankind. While both star Joel Kinnaman, Altered Carbon is a Blade Runner-esque cyberpunk epic, and For All Mankind is a grounded alt history space opera that addresses what would have happened if the Soviets had won the Space Race.
Regardless, Kinnaman's range means he was able to score central roles in both projects. While his performance as Takeshi Kovacs was contained to Altered Carbon season 1, which landed all at once on Feb. 2, 2018, Kinnaman has been a main cast member in For All Mankind since its launch in 2019. So, even though Kovacs was recast ahead of Altered Carbon season 2, sci-fi didn't lose one of its most underrated actors.
Why Altered Carbon replaced Joel Kinnaman after season 1
Joel Kinnaman was fantastic as Takeshi Kovacs. Despite not being an exact physical match for how the Altered Carbon book described him, the show's incredibly high concept and Kinnaman's stellar performance made the casting easy to forgive. Within the show's lore, technology has been developed to digitize the human consciousness and store it on a device called a stack, which is embedded in the spine at birth. Transferring stacks to a new body (known as a sleeve) is commonplace. So, even though Kinnaman is playing Takeshi Kovacs, he's actually in the body of a character called Elias Ryker. Taking that into account, it almost doesn't matter who is cast in the role.
Still, Takeshi is a unique character who needs actors with unique skill sets to bring him to life on-screen. Kinnaman was the perfect choice, but Altered Carbon's source material made it logical for him to leave after season 1.
In the books, Kovacs has a new sleeve each time out. As an Envoy, he's a master of immediately acclimating to the new environments he's thrust into whenever his stack is brought out of storage. In other words, as much as I'd have loved Kinnaman to stay on as Kovacs, it would have been an unfaithful adaptation decision for this to happen.
So, Anthony Mackie was brought in to inherit the role from Kinnaman. Sadly, various factors meant the show went downhill in season 2. The writers took their eyes off the source material, and rather than continuing the semi-anthological approach Richard K. Morgan used when penning the novels, those at Netflix tried to make some sort of loose cancellation sequel to season 1.
The magic was lost, and the show crashed and burned. Thankfully, Kinnaman's lone season functions as a standalone story. If you've never seen Altered Carbon season 1, don't let the show's eventual cancelation put you off.
Kinnaman's time on For All Mankind is also nearing its end
Although Kinnaman only managed one season of Altered Carbon, he's about to appear in his fifth run of For All Mankind. The show's upcoming season will air on March 27, 2026, and will feature Kinnaman's return as one of the last remaining members of the original cast. The Apple TV show's generational storyline has already claimed the lives of many of its main characters, but Kinnaman's time as Ed Baldwin is still going.
However, due to the sizable time jumps that happen at the end of every season, Ed is set to be in his eighties when For All Mankind returns. While he was spending his seventies still serving as an active officer on Mars during season 4, the implication was that his career was nearing its end. On the off chance he is still serving ten years later in season 5, it's likely any role he has retained will be strictly honorary.
Furthermore, when For All Mankind season 5 jumps forward roughly another decade in the finale, telling Ed's story at 90+ years old wouldn't be all that rewarding. So, it's more likely that he will meet his end in some form of heroic moment when the show returns for its fifth run. Despite the real possibility that this will happen, For All Mankind season 6 or beyond could still technically recall Kinnaman at any moment for flashbacks, or during the upcoming Star City spin-off, which will retell the story from the Soviets' point of view.
Altered Carbon is streaming now on Netflix. For All Mankind season 5 lands on Apple TV on March 27, 2026.