TV’s most underrated sci-fi saga just got great news on its future that should make fans happy!
Despite being hailed by science fiction fans as one of the best genre shows on television, For All Mankind often slips below the radar of most critics and many audiences. The Apple TV show was one of the first original series when the streamer launched in 2019 and is about to release its fifth season on March 27.
Now, per The Hollywood Reporter, Apple TV has renewed the saga for a sixth and final season. This is a bit surprising, as some viewers had assumed the upcoming fifth season would be its last. Instead, it sounds like the showrunners ending the series on their own terms.
Notably, this makes For All Mankind one of the longest-running series on Apple TV. The only one that would match it is the British spy series Slow Horses, which has been renewed through a seventh season.
In a statement, showrunners Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi, who co-created the series with Ronald D. Moore, expressed their happiness at the renewal. “Getting to explore the For All Mankind universe over six seasons has been an amazing privilege, and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to finish the story the way we’ve always hoped. We’re incredibly proud of what this series has become, and grateful to Apple TV and Sony Pictures Television for helping us see it through to its final chapter.”
For those who haven’t watched, For All Mankind rests on a fantastic premise: In 1969, the Soviet Union lands a man on the moon before the United States can. This creates a new alternate history as the Space Race and the Cold War both intensify. Each season jumps ahead a decade, showing a world where humanity colonizes Mars and looking ahead to the future.
The fifth season is set in the 2010s and revolves around an asteroid orbiting Mars that brings new tensions to the colony's relationship with Earth. The news that this won’t be the end of the show will no doubt get fans more excited for its future.
What’s coming to For All Mankind’s final year?
The show hasn’t been as huge a mainstream hit as other Apple TV+ series like Severance or Ted Lasso. However, it has built a loyal cult audience and critical praise for its mix of sci-fi themes and political drama. Apple TV Head of Programming Matt Cherniss noted the show is a favorite of the streamer as one of its first original series, and they wanted to give it a proper closure.
“From being one of the first Apple originals to launch on Apple TV in 2019, For All Mankind has remained an innovative, epic sci-fi series that has enthralled fans season after season. As one of Apple TV’s most enduring and celebrated series, it has delivered time and again because of the extraordinary artistry of visionary storytellers Ron, Matt, and Ben, along with our partners at Sony, and we can’t wait for people to experience how this story comes to its exhilarating conclusion when the final season debuts next year.”
Obviously, the plotline for the sixth season depends on what happens in season 5. It may be unlikely that Joel Kinnaman would return as in the timeline of the show, his character, Ed Baldwin, is now in his 80s and the old-age makeup for the actor is becoming more distracting. Season 5 would likely find a way to write the character off, although he could have a cameo of some sort in the final year.
It would be fitting for the series to end in the 2026 of this alternate reality, thus bringing the show into the “present.” Fans will have to wait a while longer to see it, but it’s wonderful that the producers get to conclude this grand saga on their own terms and let For All Mankind reach a fantastic conclusion worthy of this amazing show.
For All Mankind season 5 premieres Friday, March 27 on Apple TV.