For All Mankind Season 5’s first proper trailer reveals a lot about what to expect when the Apple TV show returns later this month. However, there is quite a lot of information to be gleaned about the upcoming story by turning to another, albeit related, source. Apple TV has another project that runs in tandem with For All Mankind, and many fans may not even know it exists. Regardless, it remains one of the best ways for viewers to prepare themselves before Season 5.
The Next Giant Leap can be found on the same Apple TV page as For All Mankind. The series consists of a string of fictitious, world-building news reports that bridge the gap between the Season 4 finale and the upcoming Season 5 premiere. With Season 4’s core events ending in 2003 before a nine-year time-jump to 2012, there is one news report for each year that For All Mankind allows to pass by. Some of these events are gently referenced in the Season 5 trailer, but most will only become truly relevant once the show begins.
9
James “Jim” Bragg Becomes President of the United States
News Broadcast: 2004
Randy Oglesby’s Jim Bragg served as Vice President under Ellen Wilson (Jodi Balfour) in For All Mankind Season 3, but was absent in Season 4. His return to the fray in Season 5 sees Bragg still in office. At the very least, the trailer is showing some sort of flashback Presidential speech about defunding the Mars program. However, the most likely explanation is that after his 2004 victory, he’s currently nearing the end of his second successive term in office.
8
North Korea Was Expelled From the Mars-7 Alliance (Making It the Mars-6 Alliance)
News Broadcast: 2005
The involvement of North Korea in the plot to steal the Goldilocks asteroid for Mars was clearly blown out of proportion after For All Mankind‘s Season 4 finale. Park Chol’s Lee Jung-Gil was involved, but he was largely acting as an individual rather than as a representative of his country. Either way, the Mars Alliance punished North Korea by expelling the nation from the organization. However, North Korea still has a presence on Mars, constructing an independent base that is supposedly for research. The M-6 suspects something more nefarious, especially considering the immense secrecy of the operation.
7
Mars Now Has Official Law Enforcement
News Broadcast: 2006
For All Mankind‘s worldbuilding efforts often involve folding in real-life historical figures to make the show’s alternate timeline feel more real. Season 5 has continued that trend by making Paul Bremer the governor of Mars. The Next Giant Leap‘s news report on the subject uses archive footage of the real Paul Bremer, who was best known in reality for his former role as the administrator for the Coalition Provisional Authority of Iraq. Bremer has put a team of law enforcement officers on Mars, known as Peacekeepers. Season 4 debutant, Myk Watford’s Palmer James, will return in Season 5, trading in his role as Happy Valley’s Executive Officer for a sheriff’s badge. This will put him in charge of the Peacekeepers. Given the recent riots, this development isn’t all that surprising.
6
‘For All Mankind’ Season 5 Introduces the Independent Spacefaring Nations (ISN)
News Broadcast: 2007
As it turns out, the quality of life on Earth has taken a significant dip since Mars started its rise to prominence. This hasn’t really been a secret in the show itself so far, but The Next Giant Leap really shows much more of the impact. With only the members of the Mars Alliance getting reliable access to the iridium mined from Goldilocks, the other 187 countries have been falling further and further behind. So, some of these nations have banded together to form the ISN, with several space programs on the verge of competing with those in the M-6. Expect the constant risk of a resource war in Season 5 as Mars gets busier and busier.
5
Mars Builds a Space Elevator, Triggering Another Space Race
News Broadcast: 2008
Although Helios had built almost all the infrastructure on Mars by 2008, the company lost out to the Russian firm Kuragin when it came to the M-6’s decision on who would build the first-ever space elevator. Although a space elevator has never been built in real life, they have been proposed as a way of transporting cargo to and from space and a planet’s surface. Kuragin’s victory over Helios in this respect has resulted in an intensified rivalry, with both sides “feverishly building robotic probes” in search of life on the moons of Saturn and Jupiter.
4
The First School Opens on Mars
News Broadcast: 2009
Joel Kinnaman’s Ed Baldwin had his grandson with him on Mars in For All Mankind Season 4, but it was treated as something of a novelty to have a child around. By 2009, Happy Valley looks primed to finally become a generational colony. With the opening of the Happy Valley Institute of Education, around a dozen children were initially admitted, “ranging from kindergarten to twelfth grade.” The news report for this part of the show’s timeline also confirms that once Happy Valley’s radiation shielding has been upgraded, more students will make their way to the Red Planet. The previous measures were deemed inadequate, increasing the chances of developing various forms of cancer in those who lived on Mars.
3
NASA Retires the Pathfinder-Class Shuttles
News Broadcast: 2010
Although the original Pathfinder will remain on display as a museum exhibit, every shuttle within the class was retired in 2010 after 27 years of service. This broadcast feels a little light on substantial content. So, either this point in For All Mankind‘s off-screen timeline was just uncharacteristically tranquil, or the retirement of the Pathfinder shuttles will turn out to be far more pivotal than it initially seems. Just how that will come to be true is currently unclear, but For All Mankind has already been great at twists that stem from the most unexpected of places.
2
Undocumented Workers Are Making Their Way To Mars
News Broadcast: 2011
The M-6 nations continue to flourish in the 2010s, but the countries without a presence on Mars are struggling more than ever. Without affordable access to the iridium mined from Goldilocks, even developed countries are starting to fall into poverty. As a result, citizens are being left with no choice but to illegally cross borders to find work, and some are even stowing away with the cargo to make a living on Mars. By 2011, Paul Bremer is no longer the Governor of Mars. Instead, it’s Costa Ronin’s Leonid “Lenya” Polivanov. Known as “Craters,” the refugees can’t be returned to their countries of origin unless those countries agree to receive them. So, Governor Polivanov has an uphill struggle ahead.
1
International Protests Against the M-6 Are Taking Place
News Broadcast: 2012
This in-universe update takes place in the same year as when For All Mankind Season 5 will be set. It also basically compounds all the previous updates provided by The Next Giant Leap. In short, many things are more than fine for those in the M-6 nations, but conditions continue to become more and more unlivable for those in other countries around the world, especially in the wake of additional construction on Mars, such as the space elevator. Countless protests are breaking out around the world as the ISN scrambles to try to catch up and bring down the cost of iridium. In short, the stage is set for an especially turbulent return as soon as For All Mankind Season 5 begins.
- Release Date
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November 1, 2019
- Network
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Apple TV
- Directors
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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
- Writers
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Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, Ben Nedivi, Bradley Thompson, David Weddle, Nichole Beattie, Joe Menosky
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