Today is a day for celebration.
If you’re a sci-fi fan, you already know the place to be is on Apple TV+.
They’re ushering in a new layer of top-notch sci-fi TV entertainment that sears through our hearts and right into our very souls.
At the top of that list is For All Mankind, a swooping alternate history story that imagines what would have happened if America hadn’t been first to the moon and the innovation that could have resulted.
Created by Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi, the series sparks the imagination and offers storytelling so compelling that it’s like walking on distant planets ourselves.
The latest season for “For All Mankind” rocketed the series into the new millennium in the eight years since season three, Happy Valley has rapidly expanded its footprint on Mars by turning former foes into partners.
Now 2003, the focus of the space program has turned to the capture and mining of extremely valuable, mineral-rich asteroids that could change the future of both Earth and Mars.
But simmering tensions between the residents of the now-sprawling international base threaten to undo everything they are working towards.
The work is so indicative of much of what we’ve experienced throughout history, and it speaks to us today with prescient plots that involve viewers on every level.
Well, that story isn’t ending any time soon — not that we had any doubt in its renewal.
The kicker is that the story is continuing and expanding with a renewal and a spinoff.
Following its critically acclaimed fourth season, which has been praised as “the best-written show on all of television” and “superior sci-fi,” Apple TV+ today announced that its hit, award-winning space drama series For All Mankind has landed a renewal for season five.
Additionally, Apple TV+ and For All Mankind creators Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi will expand the For All Mankind universe with a brand-new spinoff series, Star City, which will be showrun by Nedivi and Wolpert.
Both series are produced for Apple TV+ by Sony Pictures Television.
“Our fascination with the Soviet space program has grown with every season of For All Mankind,” said executive producers Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi.
“The more we learned about this secret city in the forests outside Moscow where the Soviet cosmonauts and engineers worked and lived, the more we wanted to tell this story of the other side of the space race.
“We could not be more excited to continue building out the alternate history universe of For All Mankind with our partners at Apple and Sony.”
“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,” said Matt Cherniss head of programming for Apple TV+.
“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.”
A robust expansion of the For All Mankind universe, Star City is a propulsive, paranoid thriller that takes us back to the key moment in the alt-history retelling of the space race — when the Soviet Union became the first nation to put a man on the moon.
But this time, we explore the story from behind the Iron Curtain, showing the lives of the cosmonauts, the engineers, and the intelligence officers embedded among them in the Soviet space program and the risks they all took to propel humanity forward.
Star City is created by Matt Wolpert, Ben Nedivi, and Ronald D. Moore.
Nedivi and Wolpert serve as showrunners and executive produce alongside Moore and Davis of Tall Ship Productions.
Since its global debut, For All Mankind has been widely acclaimed as “one of the best shows on television,” and season four holds a perfect 100% Certified Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes.
For All Mankind is created by Emmy Award winner Moore, and Emmy nominees Wolpert and Nedivi.
Wolpert and Nedivi serve as showrunners and executive produce alongside Moore and Maril Davis of Tall Ship Productions, as well as David Weddle, Bradley Thompson, Seth Edelstein, and Kira Snyder.
When we’ve had the pleasure of speaking with the creatives behind this terrific series, we’ve asked if they’ve ever wanted to revisit some of their show’s own unique history.
Now, we have the answer.
Apple TV+ is home to other excellent sci-fi programming, including Silo, Foundation, Invasion, Severance, See, Hello Tomorrow!, and Shining Girls, as well as winning dramas from other genres.
So, what about you?
Will you be watching the next chapter and the spinoff of For All Mankind?
Hit the comments and let us know!
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.