'For All Mankind' aims for Mars as season 3 lands June 10 on Apple TV Plus
On June 10, 1995, cosmonauts aboard Russia's space station Mir relocated one of the outpost's modules in preparation for the first docking by an American space shuttle, a part of phase one of the International Space Station.
Or, on that same day, the Cold War space race between the Soviet Union and United States continued to push both countries outward, well beyond the moon, to a new planetary frontier: Mars.
The latter is the premise behind the third season of the alternate space history series "For All Mankind," which is set to premiere on June 10, 2022 on Apple TV+. The 10-part season will debut a new episode each Friday through Aug. 12.
"The Red Planet becomes the new front in the space race, not only for the U.S. and the Soviet Union, but also an unexpected new entrant with a lot to prove and even more at stake," an Apple TV+ synopsis reads. "Our characters find themselves going head-to-head as their ambitions for Mars come into conflict and their loyalties are tested, creating a pressure cooker that builds to a climactic conclusion."
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A 40-second teaser released on Monday (April 11) offers a quick, first look at the Martian vistas coming this summer.
"When united behind a common goal, there is nothing we cannot achieve," a female voice says as the teaser shows eight astronauts standing on Mars, looking out across the surface from the edge of a cliff. Dressed in two different style spacesuits, the astronauts display no hints at their nationalities (i.e. flags) as they are only seen from behind.
The words "Mars 1995" appear on screen in a font similar to NASA's logotype (the "worm"), which "For All Mankind" uses for its title treatment.
The teaser reuses some of the same flyover footage from the final few seconds of the second season, where the focus changed from Earth and the moon to Mars. Prior to that, "For All Mankind" was set within the framework of NASA's Apollo and space shuttle programs and how they diverged from our own reality as a result of the Soviet Union landing the first cosmonaut on the moon.
Created by Emmy Award-winner Ronald D. Moore with Ben Nedivi and Matt Wolpert, "For All Mankind" is produced by Sony Pictures Television. Nedivi and Wolpert serve as showrunners and executive produce alongside Moore and Maril Davis of Tall Ship Productions, as well as David Weddle, Bradley Thompson and Nichole Beattie.
The "For All Mankind" cast members returning for season three include Joel Kinnaman ("Ed Baldwin"), Shantel VanSanten ("Karen Baldwin"), Jodi Balfour ("Ellen Waverly"), Sonya Walger ("Molly Cobb"), Krys Marshall ("Danielle Poole"), Cynthy Wu ("Kelly Baldwin"), Casey Johnson ("Danny Stevens"), Coral Pe a ("Aleida Rosales") and Wrenn Schmidt ("Margo Madison"), along with new series regular Edi Gathegi, who will play "Dev Ayesa," a charismatic visionary with his sights set on the stars.
The first two seasons of "For All Mankind" are available to stream on Apple TV+. USA Today and Rolling Stone both named the series' second season as the best show on television in 2021, with the latter writing that "'For All Mankind' ... delivered the year's best, most assured, most intensely satisfying stretch of TV."
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