TV: For all Mankind

[alko]

There are some minor easter eggs that tie FAMK and the Expanse into being in the same universe.

For example?

 

[RobBrown4PM]

For example?

I.E: On Luna, both are colonized by America first, and in both instances the colony is named Jamestown.

Nareen Shankar also has prominent roles on both shows.

 

[alko]

Season 4 preview:

For All Mankind season 4 news is starting to trickle in for the acclaimed Apple TV+ sci-fi series. Set in an alternate history where the Soviet Union landed the first man on the moon, For All Mankind depicts a fascinating space race between NASA and the Soviet Union that led to the colonization of the moon. In For All Mankind season 3, NASA, the Soviet space agency Roscosmos, and the private firm Helios Aerospace raced to be the first on Mars, only to work together. However, calamities curtailed their voyages and their plans to establish permanent bases on the Red Planet.


For All Mankind utilizes a unique timeline where every season takes place about a decade after the previous season. For All Mankind season 3 is set from 1992-1995 when former astronaut Ellen Wilson (Jodi Balfour) was elected President of the United States. Turmoil at NASA led Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) to quit the agency in order to lead Helios' Mars expedition, with his colleague Danielle Poole (Krys Marshall) commanding NASA's expedition to the Red Planet. With For All Mankind season 4 shifting into the 2000s, the series drastically changes again. Here's all that is known about For All Mankind season 4.

For All Mankind Season 4 Recent News
Ed Baldwin puts his hand on Karen's cheek
Recent For All Mankind season 4 news has been light, but many of the cast have teased what's in stor for their characters in the years since season 3. For example, Joel Kinnaman has talked openly about his role in the new season, and how the time jump will impact his character. Kinnaman plays fictional American astronaut Edward Baldwin in the For All Mankind season 4 cast, and this has given him a chance to play people of widely varied ages. This is because the show has skipped ahead a decade in each season.


Kinnaman's Edward Baldwin has aged three decades already in the first three seasons. In For All Mankind season 4 he will jump ahead another decade, his fourth, making him 30 years older than he is in real life. Kinnaman said he is excited at the challenges of the role (via The Ringer).

"Playing old is one of the most difficult things you can do as an actor, so it's a super exciting challenge. Makeup and all that comes into play, but I need to do a physical transformation for this, so I'm trying to get as skinny as possible."

Kinnaman also said in the interview that it brings a new challenge because it is unusual to play someone so much older for an entire season. Usually, he said it is for a scene or a short part of a movie or TV show. In this case, he said he took his inspiration from a scientific study showing how humans change over just a single decade - almost becoming completely different people. "As the decades go, the physicality of aging becomes a bigger part of the performance," he said.

For All Mankind Season 4 is Confirmed
Krys Marshall as Danielle Poole in For All Mankind season 3
Apple TV+ officially renewed For All Mankind season 4 on July 22, 2022, a little over a month after season 3 premiered. However, there is no For All Mankind season 4 release date yet. For All Mankind season 3 premiered on June 10, 2022, roughly 15 months after season 2's premiere on February 19, 2021. Going by the same 15-month production window, For All Mankind season 4 looked like it was coming in the fall of 2023. The show finished filming early in 2023 and went into its post-production phase, so all that remains is for Apple to announce the official For All Mankind season 4 release date.


For All Mankind Season 4 Cast
For All Mankind Supporting Cast
The For All Mankind season 4 cast looks to be impressive and huge. The main cast members are expected to be back with Joel Kinnaman returning as Edward "Ed" Baldwin. Ed is a former American astronaut, and with this being his fourth season on the show, he has aged four decades since the first season's appearance. Sadly, Shantel VanSanten, who played Ed’s wife, Karen, will not return to the For All Mankind season 4 cast. She was killed in the For All Mankind season 3 finale.

Other actors who are expected to return include Jodi Balfour as Ellen Wilson, Krys Marshall as Danielle Poole, Cynthy Wu as Kelly Baldwin, Casey W Johnson as Danny Stevens, Coral Peña as Aleida Rosales, and Edi Gathegi as Dev Ayesa. There will also be some new cast members. Daniel Stern (Home Alone) joined the For All Mankind season 4 cast as a character named Eli Hobson, Tyner Rushing (The Terminal List) as Samantha, and Toby Kebbell (Servant) as a character named Miles.

There was also a major twist at the end of season 3. While Karen and Molly Cobb (Sonya Walger) died in the terrorist explosion, Margo Madison (Wrenn Schmidt) survived. She had betrayed the United States to Russia and allowed that country to extradite her, and she was still there alive in 2003 when the season finale jumped forward in time. Expect Schmidt to return as Margo to the For All Mankind season 4 cast.

For All Mankind Season 4 Story Details
For All Mankind Ed Mourns Karen
Based on the closing scene of For All Mankind's season 3 finale, the show will time jump to 2003. At this point, Ellen Wilson will no longer be President and NASA will have a new Director to replace Margo Madison, who is now living in Russia and possibly working for Roscosmos. Ed, Danielle, Danny Stevens (Casey W. Johnson), Kelly, and her baby (who will now be about 8 years old) should be back from Mars, although the colonization of the Red Planet may have improved in the years since season 3's many Martian disasters.


Sadly, For All Mankind season 3 said goodbye to Karen Baldwin and Molly Cobb (Sonya Walger) and neither will be back for season 4. It remains to be seen how history will be changed, how technology will leap forward, and whether NASA will attempt a mission to Jupiter in For All Mankind season 4.

Release date is still unknow, but it look like, it could be this winter.

 

[GabeTravels]

Really glad to hear filming completed earlier this year. I wondered if the strikes had impacted that.

Absolutely love this show, and I'm excited (but a bit anxious) to see where Season 4 takes it.

Season 2 expanded and built on Jamestown Base, which was in its infancy in Season 1. I'd imagine we'll see something similar with Season 4.

Season 3 was good, but I got a bit annoyed with Kelly's rescue. Felt a little too out there for a grounded show.

I love the geopolitical stuff, so seeing what happens with Margot, Aleida, and Alexi will be fun.

 

[RobBrown4PM]

Really glad to hear filming completed earlier this year. I wondered if the strikes had impacted that.

Absolutely love this show, and I'm excited (but a bit anxious) to see where Season 4 takes it.

Season 2 expanded and built on Jamestown Base, which was in its infancy in Season 1. I'd imagine we'll see something similar with Season 4.

Season 3 was good, but I got a bit annoyed with Kelly's rescue. Felt a little too out there for a grounded show.

I love the geopolitical stuff, so seeing what happens with Margot, Aleida, and Alexi will be fun.

Def. dodged a bullet with the filming timeline and the WAG/SAG strikes. However, I presume there are some scenes that the studio wanted reshot, which might be why there is seemingly a delay with the release of the trailer and no release date for the season. I think the studio is weighing waiting to see how long the strikes last, vs how long they can realistically wait to release the season.

Kelly's rescue is fine, albeit it stretches the imagination just a tad. And I loved the Danny plotline, it totally made up for Operation Cradle Robbery Karen did in S2. It was by far the cringiest story line I've ever seen in a television series.

 

[GabeTravels]

November 10th!!

 

[alko]

November 10th!!

Very nice. It looks like advertising in an ice-hockey game break, but at least we see, something is done.

 

[Lshap]

I stumbled onto this show last year and was blown away by the high quality of the storytelling and its commitment to scientific accuracy. One of the best series I've seen - period.

I can't wait for season-4!

 

[GabeTravels]

I stumbled onto this show last year and was blown away by the high quality of the storytelling and its commitment to scientific accuracy. One of the best series I've seen - period.

I can't wait for season-4!

It's really flown under the radar. One of my favorites, everything's extremely well done.

I listen to the soundtrack while working frequently.

 

[alko]

This time a real trailer:



November 10.

 

[alko]

Episode 1 Season 4 is out. Anyone saw it?

 

[Lshap]

Episode 1 Season 4 is out. Anyone saw it?

Yup - picked up nicely from where it left off. We're now in the 2000s, Al Gore is the US President, the Mars colony houses astronauts all countries, all working together. The two mainstay characters, Ed Baldwin and Danielle Poole, are front and center. He's now the head of the international Mars operation (forgot his actual title), aging but still very much in the game. She's retired for seven years, haunted by an unnamed event that befell Danny Stevens, following his exile. And then there's Margo Madison, living a quiet life in Moscow under a new name.

The three former colleagues are thousands and millions of miles away from each other, but we know their lives are somehow going to end up in the same orbit.

The episode sets the stage. Not much happens, but plenty of hints at what might happen.

 

[GabeTravels]

Good start. I'm not sure if Danny's dead or something else (the implication is he's dead but I dunno)... definitely think we'll find out what happened by the end of the season.

Visuals and audio were great.

Also highly recommend the half dozen or so mini news broadcasts on the show feed that bridge the gap between S3 and S4. You get most of it in the opening montage but it's nice to see a bit more.

 

[Lshap]

Good start. I'm not sure if Danny's dead or something else (the implication is he's dead but I dunno)... definitely think we'll find out what happened by the end of the season.

Visuals and audio were great.

Also highly recommend the half dozen or so mini news broadcasts on the show feed that bridge the gap between S3 and S4. You get most of it in the opening montage but it's nice to see a bit more.

I love how the show deftly places their fictional characters alongside real people and events. It's the 90s and there's Bush, Gore, and Gorbachev... but not in the roles they occupied in our timeline. Tom Cruise is still shouting "Show me the money!" in Jerry Maguire, but Clint Eastwood is starring as Ed Baldwin in a new movie. The Clintons are there, but getting a divorce and leaving politics.

I rewatched the very first episode of season-1 and they used the same news broadcast narrative to show the meshing of fact with fiction. Historical figures whose lives were tweaked just slightly by the Russians landing on the Moon first – fates that could've easily happened, but didn't.

The show has a deep respect for history and science, plus it has amazing storytelling. Those who watch it absolutely love it; those who don't never heard of it.

 

[alko]

I love how the show deftly places their fictional characters alongside real people and events. It's the 90s and there's Bush, Gore, and Gorbachev... but not in the roles they occupied in our timeline. Tom Cruise is still shouting "Show me the money!" in Jerry Maguire, but Clint Eastwood is starring as Ed Baldwin in a new movie. The Clintons are there, but getting a divorce and leaving politics.

I rewatched the very first episode of season-1 and they used the same news broadcast narrative to show the meshing of fact with fiction. Historical figures whose lives were tweaked just slightly by the Russians landing on the Moon first – fates that could've easily happened, but didn't.

The show has a deep respect for history and science, plus it has amazing storytelling. Those who watch it absolutely love it; those who don't never heard of it.

Where are Simpsons?

 

[Lshap]

Season 4 wrapped up with its finale this past week. For All Mankind's storytelling remains as mature and inventive as ever, although this season placed politics ahead of science. America versus the Soviet Union; Earth economy versus Martian economy; Mars officers versus Mars maintenance workers.

Unlike the previous three seasons, there was little pioneering. Humans didn't land anywhere cool. It's the early 2000s and Mars has become a settled town called "Happy Valley", home to more bureaucrats and maintenance workers than astronauts. Life on Mars has become more like administrating a camping site than exploring a new planet.

The discovery of an asteroid loaded with iridium sets everything in motion and pits the competing interests of people, countries, and planets against each other. The asteroid promises to be transformative for everyone's bank accounts, but for viewers it offers no 'Wow!' moment. It's an ugly, black rock with no personality beyond its theoretical wealth.

Fortunately, whatever season-4 lacks in visual awe it makes up for in human drama. The action mostly takes place indoors, rather than in spacesuits. Daniel Poole and Ed Baldwin are no longer intrepid astronauts; they've become aging administrators with very different styles and glaringly different agendas. Mars houses a younger generation of upper and lower castes who don't like or trust each other. Dev is back with his own rogue plan. And caught between everything is Margo Madison, living in Moscow but still living for the space program.

For All Mankind remains one of the best shows on TV because of its bold vision and incredibly broad scope. Season 4 wasn't its most riveting, but it was still a great story of how advancing technology doesn't necessarily advance the people behind it.