Season 4 of For All Mankind returns to the distant future. After wrapping up its third season with an action-packed, jaw-dropping finale that jumped to the year 2003, production on the next installment of the Apple TV Plus space drama has begun.
What if the Russians landed on the Moon before the Americans? is the question that sets the stage for season 4 of For All Mankind. The Cold War rivals’ competition to colonise the Moon and beyond only intensified as the space race continued.
The first season covers the years 1969–1973, and the show moves at a breakneck pace throughout. Season 2 was set in 1983 and Season 3 in 1995, when the Soviet Union, the United States, and an unexpected new rival all raced to be the first to land on Mars.
Once again, we’re rushing headlong into the year 2000 on this show. For All Mankind will likely feature new protagonists, story arcs, and obstacles due to the deaths and advancing years of several established ones. As usual, real-world events will be reflected in and mirrored by the alternate history.
This is what we know about the fourth season of For All Mankind.
For All Mankind Season 4 Release Date Speculation
Despite announcing the show’s renewal at Comic-Con in July 2022, Apple TV Plus has not yet announced when we can expect to see season 4 of For All Mankind. However, Krys Marshall (Danielle Poole) has tweeted from the set of For All Mankind Season 4 since production began in August 2022. (opens in new tab).
The wait for the next episode shouldn’t be too long. Seasonal releases have typically occurred once a year.
Apple TV Plus premiered on November 1, 2019, marking the premiere of the first season. Its second season premiered on February 19, 2021, and its third season premiered on June 10, 2022.
Season 4 is expected to premiere sometime in October or November of 2023.
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For All Mankind Season 4 Cast
More shifts are on the way for For All Mankind’s ensemble cast in the upcoming fourth season.
First of all, Shantel VanSanten (Karen Baldwin) and Sonya Walger (Molly Cobb) will not be returning because their characters have died.
Their contemporaries from the same era are likely to return, though they’ll need a lot of age makeup if they do (which hopefully will be better done than in season 3). Wrenn Schmidt plays Margo Madison, and Joel Kinnaman plays Ed Baldwin. Krys Marshall portrays Danielle Poole, and Jodi Balfour plays Ellen Wilson.
In 2003, Ed, Danielle, Ellen, and Margo would likely all be in their early to mid-70s.
Coral Pea as Aleida Rosales, Cynthy Wu as Kelly Baldwin, Casey W. Johnson as Danny Stevens, and David Chandler as Jimmy Stevens are likely to remain as the younger generation.
Edi Gathegi, who joined the cast in Season 3, could return as Dev Ayesa, a charismatic entrepreneur whose company, Helios, financed a private mission to Mars.
The supporting cast could also include Nate Corddry (as First Gentleman Larry Wilson), Meghan Leathers (as Pam Horton), Goran Ivanovski (as Dr. Dimitri Mayakovsky), Robert Bailey Jr. (as Will Tyler), and Vera Cherny (as Roscosmos director Lenara Catiche).
- Nate Corddry as Larry Wilson, Ellen’s husband
- Meghan Leathers as Pam Horton, Ellen’s lover
- Lev Gorn as Grigory Kuznetsov, a Soviet cosmonaut on the Mars mission
- Goran Ivanovski as Dr. Dimitri Mayakovsky, a Soviet cosmonaut
- Vera Cherny as Lenara Catiche, director of Roscosmos
- Robert Bailey Jr. as Will Tyler, NASA astronaut
- C.S. Lee as Lee Jung-gil, North Korean astronaut
- Sean Patrick Thomas as Corey Johnson, Danielle’s husband
- Madeline Bertani as Amber Stevens, Danny’s wife
The fourth season of For All Mankind will introduce a few new cast members. New NASA administrator Eli Hobson is played by Home Alone and The Wonder Years narrator Daniel Stern (a series regular). Hobson, a former CEO in the auto industry, now faces the monumental task of bringing the agency into the modern era.
Toby Kebbell (Servant), according to Variety(opens in new tab), has joined the cast in the role of Miles, who is “a former offshore oil platform worker who pursues a new job opportunity on Mars.”
According to Deadline, Russian-born actress Svetlana Efremova (The Americans) is joining the cast regularly (opens in new tab). She is cast in the role of Irina Morozova, a senior Soviet official.
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For All Mankind Season 4 Plot and Season 3 Finale, Explained
For All Mankind’s third season finale was a satisfying continuation of the show’s narrative and lived up to the emotional climaxes of the previous two seasons’ finales.
In order to save Kelly and her unborn child, the combined NASA, Roscosmos, and Helios crew must figure out how to get her aboard the Popeye and send her on a course to meet up with Phoenix in orbit.
Danielle and Kuznetsov travel to a Soviet-built probe to get a part they need. The sight of an armed North Korean astronaut waiting for them there causes widespread shock. It seems that North Korea was the first to put a human on the surface of Mars. Following his disarmament, he is returned to Happy Valley.
The only way Popeye can take off with the part in place is if the rest of the crew voluntarily stays behind to await the next mission to rescue them. Ed still needs to fly her there, but it’s a risky trip because he won’t have enough gas to get back. Danny tries to make peace with his guilt by taking Ed’s place on the plane and admitting his part in the mining disaster. To Ed’s chagrin, this only makes him more furious, and he vows to take care of him in due time.
While everyone else is getting ready for the mission, Margo finds out from the Soviets that the FBI is looking into her. In a distressing phone call, Karen learns that Jimmy Stevens, accompanied by his fellow conspiracy theorists, has been skulking around JSC. He starts to doubt their motives, so they throw him in a van and lock the door. Karen locates him and learns it is hiding a bomb.
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Kelly is able to board Phoenix after a successful Popeye launch on Mars. Ed makes it through the emergency landing.
The bomb detonates on Earth. Karen is buried alive under the rubble, and Molly heroically leads the survivors away from the danger, only to perish herself. When Aleida visits Margo’s workplace, she discovers it in shambles and without her mentor.
Danny’s shipmates have decided to send him to the North Korean ship as punishment. Following her coming out, Ellen once again visits Pam at her house. It turns out that Margo is still alive and well in 2003 Moscow.
Co-creator Ben Nedivi has stated that Margo’s decision to escape from prison and join the Soviets will play a significant role in the upcoming fourth season. He explained to Variety (link opens in new tab) “It’s one of the most anticipated plotlines of the upcoming fourth season. Indeed, this is a radical change from previous episodes.”
Nedivi told TVLine (opens in new tab) that the show would be “taking a peek beyond the Iron Curtain in a way that I don’t think we’ve been able to so far on the show” when they went to Russia.
