Release Date, Cast, Story, and Everything We Know

For All Mankind Season 5 is something of an enigma. While the Apple TV show has been comfortably renewed to this point, it also has a criminally low profile. Other sci-fi projects on the platform, like Severance and Silo, have been wildly successful, but For All Mankind‘s success has been muted by comparison. Still, Apple TV has continuously seen its generational space opera as a worthwhile endeavor.

Since its beginning in 2019, For All Mankind has taken its storyline through decades of emotional moments and dramatic twists. While it’s certainly an unconventional sci-fi show that, at times, doesn’t feel like sci-fi at all, For All Mankind has long been a credit to its genre. Its groundbreaking premise allows it to guide the audience through a sizable timeline in ways that would make other shows struggle. The show’s confidence in its biggest strengths has allowed it to succeed so far, and it’s not done yet.

‘For All Mankind’ Season 5 Is Confirmed

It only took Apple TV a few months to renew For All Mankind for another run after the nail-biting Season 4 finale. The news came in April 2024 that the show would be back for another run. This keeps Ronald D. Moore’s space opera in the exclusive category of one of the longest-running shows on the platform. Only The Morning Show is keeping pace, with both projects still active from the day Apple TV launched back in 2019.

As already mentioned, For All Mankind isn’t exactly a smash hit. It’s an incredible show, but it just hasn’t managed to break into popular culture the same way as other Apple TV sci-fi projects. While some streaming services would have pulled the plug on For All Mankind long before a fifth season if it hadn’t ascended to legendary status, Apple TV thankfully seems content with the show’s viewership and is willing to let everything continue at its own speed. It’s a refreshing string of decisions in a world where great shows often end far too soon.

Apple TV Has Confirmed ‘For All Mankind’ Season 5’s Release Date

A short teaser dropped on YouTube on Jan. 21, 2026. Although the voiceover provided by Joel Kinnaman’s Ed Baldwin revealed very little about what the coming run of episodes will look like, the clip did state that For All Mankind Season 5 will drop on Friday, March 27, 2026. With Season 4 airing its finale in January 2024, Season 5’s arrival will end what will be just over a two-year wait for new episodes. This is the longest delay in the show’s history.

As with previous runs, For All Mankind Season 5 is expected to release its episodes weekly. Based on another ten-episode run, this means the finale will drop on May 29, 2026. With the show being so high-concept and featuring complex socio-economic divergences from the real-world timeline, its weekly release schedule suits For All Mankind very well. There will invariably be fans who wait until all Season 5 episodes are available before they binge them all, but a lot of the subtleties are then lost without the time to think about what’s just happened in the days between installments.

What ‘For All Mankind’ Season 5 Will Be About

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For All Mankind has an unspoken tradition that every season finale must be absolutely fantastic, leaving the viewers with enough adrenaline in their systems to last a thousand lifetimes. Season 4’s climax upheld this trend. After Ed played a pivotal role in diverting a resource-rich asteroid called Goldilocks to Mars instead of Earth, the Red Planet ended Season 4 in an unusual position of power. As the episode’s final moments prove, Goldilocks brings about a new age of prosperity for Mars as the years go by.

As a more official tradition, every For All Mankind season finale jumps forward roughly ten years. So, after mostly unfolding in 2003, For All Mankind Season 4 jumped forward to 2012 as the run drew to a close. The few plot details that have been released suggest that political tensions are worse than ever between Earth and Mars, and that strained dynamic will form a big part of Season 5’s story. Sean Kaufman’s presence in the first teaser as Alex Baldwin, Ed’s grandson, also means that he’ll likely be a major part of what’s to come.

‘For All Mankind’ Season 5’s Cast

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Because For All Mankind started its story in the late 1960s, the characters who remain part of the show’s formula have understandably become a lot older. Some have left the show for various reasons, but key figures like Ed, Margo (Wrenn Schmidt), and Danielle (Krys Marshall) will be back once more, aged even further than ever before. Not all returning stars have been involved since the pilot, but the nature of For All Mankind‘s storyline means new actors have continuously joined the cast as the plot jumps through the decades.

The show will also welcome new cast members into the fold. While Sean Kaufman is simply taking over as an older version of Alex, other stars will be playing brand-new characters. Among these new actors are Mireille Eno (The Killing), Costa Ronin (The Americans), Ruby Cruz, and Ines Asserson (Heirs of the Night). How they’ll interact with the show’s more established figures is still unclear, but judging by For All Mankind‘s past efforts, the integration will be impressively seamless.

Release Date

November 1, 2019

Network

Apple TV

Directors

Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, Andrew Stanton, Meera Menon, Dan Liu, Allen Coulter, Craig Zisk, Dennie Gordon, John Dahl, Lukas Ettlin, Wendey Stanzler, Seth Gordon, Sylvain White, Michael Morris, Maja Vrvilo, Sarah Boyd

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