When For All Mankind launched in 2019, the show had a great, if somewhat misleading hook: What if the USSR landed on the Moon in 1969, effectively winning the space race? This might make you think For All Mankind is a Soviet vs. US type of show, with tons of intrigue about the Berlin Wall and space secrets. And while the upcoming spinoff series Star City may prove to be exactly that, the entirety of For All Mankind has evolved into something much bigger. Season 1 gave us a Moonbase in the 1970s, and Season 2 introduced an incredible souped-up space shuttle and a better-than-real-life 1980s. Then, Season 3 put boots on Mars in the 1990s, and Season 4 told the story of a massive asteroid heist, pushing a huge wedge between the people of Earth and Mars. Along the way, FamK created the most diverse and dynamic team of space heroes, broke our hearts, gave us hope, and demonstrated that high-stakes sci-fi doesn’t need to rely on mystery boxes or unrealistic speculative ideas.
But For All Mankind’s boldest gamble has never been one about a kooky alternate timeline, or even its propulsive and realistic spaceflight storylines. Instead, as has been the case since the end of Season 1, For All Mankind’s intergenerational scope, in which every season jumps ahead a decade, has always been the bravest and riskiest thing about the show. And, now, with Season 5, the series faces its hardest question: Can the show really work now that most of the original cast is gone? Will the next generation of these characters carry the series forward?
