Overview
For All Mankind is an American science fiction drama television series created by Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi and produced for Apple TV+. The series dramatizes an alternate history depicting "what would have happened if the global space race had never ended" after the Soviet Union succeeds in the first crewed Moon landing ahead of the United States. The title is inspired by the lunar plaque left on the Moon by the crew of Apollo 11, which reads, in part, "We Came in Peace for All Mankind".
The series stars an ensemble cast including Joel Kinnaman, Michael Dorman, Sarah Jones, Shantel VanSanten, Jodi Balfour, Wrenn Schmidt, Sonya Walger, and Krys Marshall. Cynthy Wu, Casey W. Johnson, and Coral Peña joined the main cast for the second season, while Edi Gathegi joined in the third. The series features historical figures (played by actors or appearing through archival footage) including Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, Mercury Seven astronaut Deke Slayton, rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, astronaut Sally Ride, NASA administrator Thomas Paine, NASA flight director Gene Kranz, U.S. senators Ted Kennedy and Gary Hart, along with U.S. presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton.
For All Mankind premiered on November 1, 2019. The second season was critically acclaimed, and nominated for the TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Drama. In July 2022, the series was renewed for a fourth season, which is set to premiere on November 10, 2023.
Premise
In an alternate timeline in 1969, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov becomes the first human to land on the Moon. This outcome devastates morale at NASA, but also catalyzes a U.S. effort to catch up. With the Soviet Union emphasizing diversity by including a woman in subsequent landings, the United States is forced to match pace, training women and minorities who were largely excluded from the initial decades of U.S. space exploration. Each subsequent season takes place 10 years later, with season two taking place in the 1980s, season three taking place in the 1990s, (and as revealed in the season-three finale) season four taking place in the 2000s.
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