Although only certain details about For All Mankind season 5's storyline have been made public, the Apple TV project's previous runs make it very easy to figure out a specific part of the upcoming finale. It'll be bizarre in the best kind of way, and it wouldn't make sense if the show tried to avoid it. If the inevitable twist doesn't happen, season 5 just wouldn't feel like For All Mankind.
2026 is a huge year for the show. Not only will season 5 push the story onward as it always has, but the Star City spin-off will recontextualize key moments from the established timeline, showing them from the point of view of the Soviet Union. Still, even though For All Mankind is on the verge of becoming a franchise, that doesn't mean the show that started it all back in 2019 should adjust its time-honored formula.
Why For All Mankind season 5 finale's inevitable timejump will be a landmark occasion
For All Mankind has had several time jumps so far, most of which have been reserved for season finales. Although the show began with the Russians winning the Space Race by landing on the moon first in 1969, the show's generational storyline has allowed the fallout of that twist to be extensively chronicled. The biggest difference between For All Mankind's timeline and reality is that the Space Race never ended in the Apple TV show's universe.
So, various characters and storylines have been followed for years, some even decades. Because it would take an eternity to see every little change, For All Mankind has sped the process along by essentially fast-forwarding in every season finale. This provides a glimpse of which era will be the focus when the show returns. These jumps tend to be roughly ten years, and the upcoming setting was previewed at the end of season 4.
Although most of season 4 unfolds in an alternate 2003, the finale showed a glimpse of what 2012 will look like. While it might not feel like it, this 2010s setting still makes season 5 a period piece — just about, anyway. However, the season 5 finale will surely have another time jump of roughly a decade. This gives the show a very real possibility of catching up with the present day, or falling just short of doing so.
So, even though For All Mankind has always been a sci-fi show, this season 5 flashforward to a 2020s setting will finally make it impossible to deny the show's genre label. There have been countless examples already of periods in the show boasting technology and other advancements that didn't exist at that point in reality, but they've felt so achievable and grounded that they haven't really stood out. Inversely, seeing a fully independent colony on Mars in the 2020s, and probably other sci-fi-esque developments, will be the prominent example of this.
For All Mankind's season 6 finale be even more wild
It hasn't yet been confirmed whether For All Mankind season 6 is happening, but the writers have long spoken about a general blueprint to make seven runs of episodes in total. Although the show doesn't have a particularly big reputation, Apple TV has been content to continually renew For All Mankind to this point, so I would assume the intention is to allow the saga to end on its own terms rather than the plug being prematurely pulled. So, assuming that season 6 is a lock-in, the finale will show a glimpse of what's in store for what will presumably be the seventh and final season.
Using the show's current trends, I think it's safe to say that For All Mankind season 7 will be set in the 2030s. So, season 6 will almost definitely show a preview of this barely-future setting and what to expect. At this point, For All Mankind will feel undeniably like a sci-fi show. And yet, watching such a believable and organic progression from the 1960s to the 2030s will still make it feel like some kind of trippy bioseries about how humanity reached the stars and populated the solar system. I know that's the entire concept of For All Mankind, but it'll still be amazing to see it finally pay off.
For All Mankind season 5 premieres on Apple TV on March 27, 2026.