Apple TV’s critically acclaimed space drama For All Mankind returns for a fifth season on Friday, March 27, the streamer said Wednesday, offering “first look” photos and video. The new season continues the alternative history of the space race launched in 2019.
The 10-episode fifth season will debut globally with a single episode followed by new episodes released weekly every Friday through May 29.
What to expect from For All Mankind season 5, streaming March 27
This marks the continuation of one of Apple TV’s flagship original series, created by Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi. It garnered widespread critical praise in the years following its 2019 debut. Now Apple TV has released images and the teaser video below for season five, streaming in just a couple of months.
What to expect in season five
Season five picks up following the events of the Goldilocks asteroid heist that concluded the previous season. Happy Valley, the Mars colony established in earlier seasons, has evolved into a thriving settlement housing thousands of residents. The colony now serves as a launching point for ambitious new missions designed to push humanity even deeper into the solar system.
However, the expansion comes with political complications. Earth’s nations are now demanding law and order be established on Mars, creating mounting tension between Martian colonists and their former home planet. This conflict promises to drive much of the season’s drama as characters navigate the complexities of interplanetary governance.
Cast and crew details
Photo: Apple TV
The ensemble cast returns for season five, including Joel Kinnaman, Toby Kebbell, Edi Gathegi, Cynthy Wu, Coral Peña and Wrenn Schmidt. The series is also welcoming new regular cast members for this season: Mireille Enos (The Killing, Hanna), Costa Ronin (The Americans, Homeland), Sean Kaufman (The Summer I Turned Pretty), Ruby Cruz (Bottoms) and Ines Asserson (Royalteen).
Emmy Award winner Ronald D. Moore created the series alongside Emmy nominees Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi, who serve as showrunners and executive producers. The production team also includes Maril Davis of Tall Ship Productions, along with Kira Snyder, David Wedge, Bradley Thompson and Seth Edelstein. Sony Pictures Television produces the series for Apple TV.
See our previous coverage of season five below.
For All Mankind season 5 and spinoff Star City
Photo: Apple TV+
July 28, 2025: As For All Mankind prepares to launch into its fifth season, the Apple TV+ alternative-history space drama expands its universe in ambitious new directions. Co-creators Ben Nedivi and Matt Wolpert recently sat down with ScreenRant to discuss what fans can expect from the upcoming season set in 2012 — as well as their highly anticipated Soviet spinoff series Star City.
After four seasons as a flagship Apple TV+ drama (now with a spinoff!), For All Mankind season 5 will explore the consequences of Mars capturing an asteroid at the end of season 4. It creates an unprecedented tension between Earth and the red planet.
“The show is caught in place where it started in season one, as tension between the Soviet Union and the United States, and now five seasons later, it’s about Earth and Mars,” Nedivi explained. This evolution demonstrates the remarkable scope the series has achieved over its run.
The 2012 setting will continue to follow beloved characters like Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman), who Wolpert describes as getting “grumpier and grumpier” with age.
“You can’t put a number on Ed Baldwin’s age,” Wolpert joked. “He’s young at heart. It’s so fun to watch Joel, like, just buy into old man Ed energy.”
Returning alongside Kinnaman’s Ed will be Miles Dale (Toby Kebbell), Kelly Baldwin (Cynthy Wu) and Aleida (Coral Pena), plus new characters who are children and grandchildren of original cast members.
Star City offers a different perspective
While For All Mankind continues its decade-jumping structure, the Soviet-focused spinoff Star City will take a markedly different approach. Set in the 1970s, the series will remain anchored in that time period rather than following the main show’s temporal leaps.
“Right now we’re thinking that that show is really just going to live in that 1970s time period, because we really wanted to feel like it wasn’t just mirroring For All Mankind,” Wolpert said. “It’s its own thing.”
The spinoff will explore the notoriously risk-taking Soviet space program, where danger comes not just from space exploration but from the authoritarian regime on Earth.
“In For All Mankind, it’s all about risks. And are we willing to take a risk. In Star City, there’s no question they’re going to take the risk,” Nedivi noted. “Space is almost where there’s freedom, and there’s you can sort of be who you want to be. And then you still got to go back to Earth and sort of deal with the consequences.”
Crossovers and connections
Despite being a standalone series, Star City will feature crossover elements that For All Mankind fans will appreciate.
“There are actually crossovers and really interesting ones,” Nedivi teased, mentioning that viewers will see “similarities or characters, or maybe even the ancestors of characters of For All Mankind.”
The show serves as something of a prequel for certain storylines, allowing fans to see earlier versions of characters they know from the main series. While Margo’s defection storyline won’t appear directly due to the 1970s setting, elements of that narrative will be hinted at throughout Star City.
Watch the interview:
Looking toward the future
The creators remain committed to their original vision of eventually catching up to the present day.
“The hope was always to catch up to the present,” Nedivi said. “The fact that we’re at a point now, already in the 2010s getting close to that is pretty unbelievable.”
When asked about the possibility of creating a Star Trek-like universe for Apple TV, Nedivi acknowledged the similarities while emphasizing their commitment to realism. “The thing that is important that keeps our show unique is the idea that it feels real. It’s authentic. It kind of feels more grounded naturalistic,” he noted.
As both series prepare to launch, fans can expect For All Mankind to continue pushing the boundaries of alternate history while Star City offers an intimate look at the human cost of the space race from behind the Iron Curtain. With Apple’s continued support and the creators’ expansive vision, this universe shows no signs of slowing down its ambitious trajectory toward the stars.
Watch For All Mankind on Apple TV
While waiting for the new episodes and the new show, You can stream four full seasons of For All Mankind on Apple TV. It’s available by subscription for $12.99 with a seven-day free trial. You can also get it via any tier of the Apple One subscription bundle. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV for free.
In November 2019, Apple TV “became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have been honored with 682 wins and 3,115 award nominations and counting,” the service said.
This post first published on July 28, 2025, and republished with updates January 21, 2026.
David Snow, an expert on Apple hardware and software, writes on a variety of technological and cultural topics for Cult of Mac. They include Apple news, technology buying guides, and features about computer setups and Apple TV shows and movies.
With 30 years of experience covering technology and other subjects, he has written and edited for numerous print and online publications, including CMP Media, TechTV.com, CNET, Wired News, Red Herring magazine, Law.com, The National Law Journal and Law Technology News magazine. Among other roles, he served as executive editor of the Law.com network of websites and editorial director, technology, for ALM Media.
Snow graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse University with majors in magazine journalism and psychology. While there, he worked as a reporter for The Daily Orange newspaper and associate editor of Equal Time magazine.
Founder of the blog At the Waterline, he can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) via @atthewaterline and on Mastodon via @dsnow.
