For All Mankind Season 5: What’s next for the Apple TV+ series?
Apple TV+Apple TV+ tackled the space race in 2019, leading to one of the most highly-rated shows on the platform – and good news: For All Mankind Season 5 is officially on the way.
Apple TV+ is no stranger to sci-fi, thanks to the likes of Foundation, Severance, and of course, For All Mankind. Taking place during an alternate history in which the Soviet Union beat the United States in the space race, it unveils a different side of humanity that never was.
By all accounts, the TV show was a huge success for the streaming service. Season 4, which premiered in November 2023, currently sits at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, meaning high expectations are weighing on the upcoming Season 5.
With that in mind, here’s everything we know, from all the news to potential cast returns and what could happen next.
Is For All Mankind Season 5 confirmed?
Yes! For All Mankind was renewed for Season 5 by Apple TV+ in April 2024, as well as a new spinoff series called Star City.
Apple released an official statement confirming the renewal of its hit show. Alongside the news, it’s been announced that Star City will expand the universe.
Two of the creators of For All Mankind, Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi, will serve as showrunners for the new spinoff, which is described as a “propulsive paranoid thriller,” that’ll explore the perspective of the space race between the US and the Soviet Union from behind the Iron Curtain.
In a statement, Matt Cherniss (head of programming for Apple TV+) wrote: “With each new season, For All Mankind continues to build out a fascinating world and capture global audiences through high quality storytelling that has been so skillfully developed by Ron, Matt and Ben.
“There is so much to explore, and we, along with our partners at Sony, can’t wait to dive into this next chapter of the engrossing For All Mankind universe.”
Is there a release date?
At the time of writing, there’s no confirmed release date for For All Mankind Season 5.
Ben Nedivi acknowledged that development on Season 5 faced delays due to the 2023 industry strikes. He told Collider: “It’s interesting, because I think the difference this year, because of the writer’s strike, we we’re able to… start a room for Season 5.
“I think this is the first time in the history of the show where the show is premiering without us really starting a room for Season 5.”
With all this in mind, it’s looking like 2025 could be the earliest we’ll see For All Mankind on our screens again if we’re lucky.
Season 5 potential cast
Apple hasn’t confirmed the returning cast for Season 5, but we can take an educated guess that the main players will return, including Joel Kinnaman as Ed and Wrenn Schmidt as Margo.
Apple TV+The show is prone to significant time jumps that often write off characters, but if the majority of the main cast returns, then we could expect to see the below names come back for Season 5:
- Joel Kinnaman as Ed Baldwin
- Wrenn Schmidt as Margo Madison
- Krys Marshall as Danielle Poole
- Cynthy Wu as Kelly Baldwin
- Coral Peña as Aleida Rosales
- Edi Gathegi as Dev Ayesa
- Toby Kebbell as Miles Dale
- Tyner Rushing as Samantha Massey
- Svetlana Efremova as Irina Morozova
- Daniel Stern as Eli Hobson
For All Mankind Season 5 timeline
The Season 5 details aren’t confirmed, but based on the Season 4 finale, Season 5 should skip ahead to 2012 and beyond.
It would be par for the course for Season 5 to kick off with a major time jump, and the Season 4 finale already ended with the in-show timeline moving from 2003 to 2012.
What could it be about?
While the plot for Season 5 hasn’t been released, the Season 4 finale included a flashforward of mining commencing on the coveted Goldilocks asteroid, so we can safely assume that this is where Season 5 will start or land up.
With this in mind, more power plays should come into effect, with major repercussions on America, Russia, and the rest of the world as Helios takes control. There’s also the fallout of Miles’ imprisonment to deal with, since the vicious riot that ensued ended up becoming known back on Earth.
Apple TV+Speaking about the Season 4 finale, Nedivi teased that we might see characters expanding into even further territories and that the final moments served to say a few things.
“One, that this insane heist actually worked. It paid off,” he said [via TVLine]. “They are investing in Mars and investing in the asteroid, which, if that’s the case, you have to imagine that the impact of that on Mars would be huge, as well.
“So for us, what’s always exciting in pushing forward with the show is imagining where we can go.
“That means not only with the asteroid and the impact that has on Mars, and possibly going to a colony now that is much bigger than the one you see in season four, but even the potential now of going further than Mars.
“That’s always been in the back of our minds, that roadmap of the show, and the further we can go with it, the further we can take space travel, as well.”
Either way, the show’s renewal and announcement of a spinoff show bodes well for the future. Originally, the creators envisioned a seven season run, so expect Season 5 to have just as much set-up as it does pay off.
For more science fiction, check out our guides to Severance Season 2 and Terminator Zero, and all the upcoming Star Wars movies. You can also check out our list of the best TV shows of 2024, so you know you haven’t missed a thing.