Joel Kinnaman is even older in behind-the-scenes look at For All Mankind season 5

For All Mankind was one of the first original shows to appear on Apple TV+. It's an alternate history series that asks the question: what if the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union, which raged through the 1950s, 60s and 70s, never stopped? What if the countries kept pushing each other to develop new technologies? How different would our world be?

For All Mankind has been plugging away for four seasons now, all of them worth watching. Each season jumps forward in time. The show began in 1969, but the stinger at the end of season 4 jumped all the way ahead to 2012, where we've built a mining facility on an asteroid orbiting Mars. That's where we'll pick up with For All Mankind season 5.

As the years pass on the show, characters drift in and out of the foreground. Some die. One of the characters who's consistently been in the spotlight is Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman), an American astronaut who might love outer space a little too much. Ed was a young man in the first season, but by season 4 he was getting up there. And in season 5...well, if he survives this one, I'll be surprised.

Anyway, there's an image floating around X that purports to show what the even older Ed will look like in season 5. I can't 100% verify the authenticity of this image, but it looks authentic, and the fans on the For All Mankind subreddit seem to be buying it. Judge for yourself as this quick video takes us through over 50 years of Ed Baldwin:

If anything, he kinda looks more believable than he did in season 4, which was set in 2003. Season 5 Ed is severely balding and has deep wrinkles, befitting a man in his 80s. I don't know how he'll manage to keep exploring the solar system at his age, but Ed's always been stubborn. For All Mankind co-creators Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi have said they could see the show running as long as six or seven seasons, but if that happens, I have a hard beliving Ed will be part of it, unless he's still riding rocket ships in his '90s.

There's no release date for For All Mankind season 5 as of yet, but I don't think it'll be out until 2026. In the meanwhile, Apple TV+ will air a spinoff series called Star City, which explores this alternate history space race from the Soviet side of things. Star City is due out this year, along with a lot of other sci-fi and fantasy shows worth keeping an eye on:

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