PostHole
Compose
Login
Earth-Mars tensions flare in For All Mankind season 5 [New Apple TV trailer]
Apple TV's hit sci-fi series "For All Mankind," an alternative history of the space race, returns in March. Watch the pulse-pounding trailer.
(via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)
Earth-Mars tensions flare in For All Mankind season 5 [New Apple TV trailer]
By David Snow • 8:38 am, February 24, 2026
[For All Mankind season 5]
Has Happy Valley on Mars finally grown too big for its britches? Some people on Earth are up in arms.
Photo: Apple TV
Earth almost seems to have a “make Earth great again” moment in the new For All Mankind season five trailer Apple TV released Tuesday. Happy Valley, the burgeoning Mars colony that the alternative-history drama depicts, needs so much funding and resources it’s starting to piss people off — on both planets.
The new trailer, full of new characters and aging favorites, ratchets up the tension for the upcoming 10 episodes. Season 5 debuts on Friday, March 27 on Apple TV.
For All Mankind season 5 trailer: Tensions rise on the red planet and at home
Season five jumps forward into the 2010s of its alternate timeline, picking up years after the dramatic Goldilocks asteroid heist that closed out the previous season, according to Apple TV. Happy Valley, once a modest outpost, has grown into a full-fledged Martian colony with thousands of residents. It serves as a launchpad for missions pushing even deeper into the solar system.
The central tension this season stems from Earth’s governments demanding law and order on Mars. That sets up a collision between the colonists who now call the Red Planet home and the distant nations that still claim authority over them.
Watch the new For All Mankind season 5 trailer
How <em>For All Mankind</em> season 5 shakes up interplanetary politics
January 21, 2025: Apple TV’s critically acclaimed space drama For All Mankind returns for a fifth season on Friday, March 27, the streamer said recently, offering “first look” photos and video. The new season continues the alternative history of the space race launched in 2019.
[For All Mankind season 5]
*And we thought the old-man makeup on Joel Kinnaman, right, was over the top last season.
Photo: Apple TV*
The 10-episode fifth season will debut globally with a single episode followed by new episodes released weekly every Friday through May 29.
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, streaming March 27
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
[Ruby Cruz in For All Mankind season 5]
Ruby Cruz joins For All Mankind* for season 5.
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
[For All Mankind season 5]
Here’s some of what you can expect from For All Mankind season 5 and spinoff Star City*, according to the shows’ co-creators.
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.
[...]