Series created by Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi
Staring Joel Kinnaman, Michael Dorman, Sarah Jones, and Shantel VanSanten
All seasons now streaming on Apple TV+

by Ian Hrabe, Staff Writer

I am always watching a space show. This is a weird thing to say for someone who has never seen an episode of Star Trek (it’s on my “I’ll Watch it When I’m Retired” list, though I’ll probably have some sort of Star Trek obsessive phase in the next few years, or when there aren’t any decent space shows on TV). Battlestar Galactica, The Expanse, Firefly, The Mandalorian, etc. My current space show is Apple TV+’s For All Mankind, which is conveniently showrun by Battlestar reboot mastermind Ronald D. Moore, and it’s the show I’m foisting on everyone I know. Part of this is due to the fact that it feels like nobody is watching this show, which based on its premise alone feels as close as you can get to a slam dunk in the medium: What if the Soviets got to the moon before the Americans? This playful alternate history thought experiment has ramifications that alter the course of history as we know it, and we enter a world where the space race never ends. 

I feel like I’m so evangelical about For All Mankind because I didn’t even know this show existed until I heard the buzz around the Season 2 finale. I had just finished The Expanse, and For All Mankind quickly swooped in and filled the space show-sized hole in my life. I burned through it in a week and, yes, that Season 2 finale is absolutely insane and wild and far-fetched, and made me a true believe in the kind of storytelling this show is interested in. This is a show that follows characters for decades, and if that sort of thing is done well you get the kind of audience investment that can’t be beat. Despite the flak Moore gets for the last season of Battlestar Galactica (I’m a “The Last Season of Battlestar Galactica is Fine” truther, come at me), it’s hard to argue that the guy doesn’t know how to build a compelling longform story. 

The first episode of For All Mankind starts with the Russians beating the USA to the moon in 1969, and the Season 3 finale ends with the space superpowers trying to establish bases on Mars in the mid-90s. In between, the space race has accelerated technology, both macro (nuclear fusion) and micro (iPods in 1994). And yet all of that is just set dressing for what For All Mankind is really about, which, you guessed it, is interpersonal drama. Sure, the space stuff is great, it’s why you tune in, but the extreme longform storytelling and the insanely gratifying payoffs are why you stick around. 

It’s watching a frustrated young Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) start as a passionate and angry young astronaut, before organically growing into a selfless hero via a series of micro adjustments. It’s watching Danielle Poole (Krys Marshall), an African American woman, go from a longshot to making it into the space program as part of NASA’s initiative to put a woman on the moon after the USSR does it to NASA’s most level-headed mission commander. It’s watching Margo Madison (Wrenn Schmidt), once barely able to get a seat in NASA Mission Control, leading the organization to Mars. 

There are a dozen characters with these super satisfying decades-long story arcs, and it’s truly impressive how the writers’ room makes you love all of them. Molly Cobb (Sonya Walger), Aleida Rosale (Coral Peña), Gordo and Tracy Stevens (Michael Dorman and Sarah Jones), and Ellen Wilson (Jodi Balfour) are all going to win you over—it’s not even a question. I mean, assuming your heart isn’t made of stone and you’re willing to open it up to a little moon-based melodrama, with some occasionally batshit crazy insanity (like the Cold War turning into a hot war on the dang Moon)! The cast of this show is just that damn charismatic, and the storytelling within the foolproof premise is just that damn strong. 

With Season 3 in the books, you’ve basically got two options: put this one on your radar now and binge it all right before Season 4 drops next year, or binge it now and deal with the internal torment of having to wait 9-12 months for more of this outstanding show. As a TV masochist I’ll always recommend the latter, but you’re going to want to get around to this one sooner or later.