‘For All Mankind’ season 5: Release date & how to watch Apple TV’s alt-history space show

It’s go for launch for the fifth and penultimate season of “For All Mankind,” Apple TV’s engrossing sci-fi series that shows us a “What-If” future where the Soviets dropped boots on the lunar surface before America, and NASA’s Apollo space program never ended in December of 1972.

Since its inception back in 2019 as one of the flagship series on the then-fledgling Apple TV+ (now rebranded as just Apple TV), the sci-fi series from creators and executive producers Matt Wolpert, Ben Nedivi, and Ronald D. Moore has been steadily attracting a loyal viewership thanks to the excellent story, tense drama and renewed interest in the space industry due to NASA’s upcoming Artemis 2 moon flights.

So what’s in store for the pioneering folks of Mars’ Happy Valley colony? Earth’s increasing animosity towards the Red Planet inhabitants is sure to boil over as “For All Mankind’s” latest outing arrives starting March 27. Let’s open the hatch and take a peek inside the mission plan for this season 5 showdown!

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When Is “For All Mankind” Season 5’s Release Date?

“For All Mankind’s” newest season will deliver its payload of 10 episodes beginning on Friday, March 27, 2026, with a single-chapter premiere.

The subsequent nine episodes will air on Fridays, running through to the season finale on May 29, 2026.

How To Watch “For All Mankind” Season 5

“For All Mankind” Season 5 streams exclusively on Apple TV each Friday at 12 a.m. PT/ET.

You can also watch the previous four seasons on Apple TV, along with a bunch of other amazing sci-fi shows, including Pluribus, Invasion, Silo, and Foundation.

If you’re going to be out of the country when the show debuts, you can still watch it on your streaming service of choice using a VPN. You’ll be able to connect to your streaming services, no matter where you are on Earth (though it won’t work on Mars, sorry).

What Is The Plot Of “For All Mankind” Season 5?

Things in Happy Valley might not be so happy if the Earth vs Mars clash keeps heating up!

Season 5 takes place in the 2010s in the aftermath of the iridium-rich Goldilocks asteroid heist from last season. In the intervening nine years since 2003, Mars’ Happy Valley community has flourished and grown into a burgeoning colony with thousands of residents trying to establish a cultural identity on the Red Planet without Earth’s overbearing presence.

Plus, a new Martian base will catapult humanity even deeper into our solar system and someday beyond. However, restless Earth-bound nations are insisting upon law and order on their rebellious neighboring planet, and tensions are reaching a boiling point. Will cooler heads eventually prevail, or will we see an eruption of violence?

Sure, we know there’s going to be the inevitable comparison to “The Expanse” and its own Earth-versus-Mars interplanetary embroilment that played out over the years in that smash sci-fi series, but the compelling drama remains in this alt-history narrative despite the similarities.

“For All Mankind” Season 5 Teaser & Trailers

Surprisingly, there has not been an abundance of teasers and trailers for this newest installment of the distinguished series. However, each sneak peek provides a compelling glimpse at the interplanetary turmoil ahead.

The first teaser was pretty light on plot and dropped on Jan. 21, 2026, with Kinnaman’s Ed Baldwin narrating the brief 30-second promo. It mostly revealed Baldwin’s grandson, Alex Poletov Baldwin, now older, zooming over ruddy dunes on a Martian motorbike.

For All Mankind — Season 5 Official Teaser | Apple TV – YouTube

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A main trailer landed on February 24, 2026, highlighting more of the mounting tensions between Earth and Mars and showcasing harsh, inflammatory rhetoric from President Jim Bragg delivering fighting words.

“Without allies, without aid, without your home planet, let’s see how long you can survive!”

Also highlighted here is Edi Gathegi’s Dev Ayesa, the charismatic Helios Aerospace visionary, and his insistence that Happy Valley must stand up and become masters of their own destiny.

For All Mankind — Season 5 Official Trailer | Apple TV – YouTube

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Who Are The “For All Mankind” Season 5 Cast and Creators?

Joel Kinnaman (“Altered Carbon,” “Robocop”) returns to his role with a lot more grey hair dye this season as the venerable superstar ex-astronaut Ed Baldwin, beside previous cast members Toby Kebbell, Edi Gathegi, Cynthy Wu, Coral Peña, and Wrenn Schmidt.

Additional co-stars reprising their parts in the ensemble sci-fi show are Costa Ronin (“Homeland”), Sean Kaufman (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”), Ruby Cruz (“Bottoms”), and Ines Asserson (“Royalteen”).

New to the scene is Mireille Enos (“The Killing”), who’ll be portraying Celia Boyd, a tough officer of Mars’ Peacekeeper Security Force who tries to maintain civility with a full-scale rebellion brewing just over the horizon.

Matt Wolpert, Ben Nedivi, and Ronald D. Moore created the series and also act as executive producers in partnership with Maril Davis of Tall Ship Productions, Kira Snyder, David Weddle, Bradley Thompson, and Seth Edelstein. Wolpert and Nedivi will share showrunner duties with Sony Pictures Television aboard once more as the series producers.

Will There Be A “For All Mankind” Season 6?

Indeed, there will be, as Apple TV reaches for the stars one final time. For All Mankind season 6 was just confirmed by the streaming giant, which also stated that this will be the final outing of the show. The news dropped on March 24, 2026.

This sixth and final season will arrive sometime in 2027.

How Does “For All Mankind” Connect To “Star City?”

“Star City” is a new 1960s-set prequel spinoff of “For All Mankind” premiering May 29, 2026.

It focuses on the international space race from the USSR’s perspective, following Soviet scientists, engineers, cosmonauts, and intelligence officers all teaming up to beat Americans to the moon.

All four previous seasons of “For All Mankind” are now available to stream and binge exclusively on Apple TV.