--- title: "For All Mankind" year: 2019 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/for-all-mankind-2019" fi1m_score: 66 critics_score: 61 critics_reviews: 10 published: "2026-09-17T11:53:01.840274+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T11:53:24.556440+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # For All Mankind (2019) Created by Matt Wolpert, Ronald D. Moore, Ben Nedivi · MPA TV-MA · Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, War & Politics **Fi1m score: 66** · Critics 61 from 10 reviews *In a sentence:* Russia wins the moon and America’s revenge is a fairer hiring policy and a much bigger rocket > An alternate space race in which the Soviets land first, told with real feeling for hardware and a slow hand with people. The first season takes six episodes to find its footing; when it does, on the moon and in the women’s programme, it is worth the wait. ## Synopsis Houston, the summer of 1969. A Soviet cosmonaut steps onto the moon before Apollo 11 can launch, and NASA has lost the race it was built to win. Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman), one of the agency’s astronauts, watches it on television with everyone else and wants back into the fight. His friend and fellow flyer Gordo Stevens (Michael Dorman) tries to keep them both in the programme. When Washington decides the answer is a class of female astronauts, candidates including Danielle Poole (Krys Marshall) and Ellen Wilson (Jodi Balfour) arrive at a training centre built for men who do not want them there, and the race moves from reaching the moon to holding it. ## Review Ronald D. Moore, with Ben Nedivi and Matt Wolpert, starts from one changed fact: in the summer of 1969 a Soviet cosmonaut reaches the moon first, and NASA watches on television like everyone else. From there the series follows the astronauts, engineers and wives of Houston as the race goes on past the point where ours stopped. It is a handsome idea, handsomely built, and for most of its first season it moves at the speed of a committee. Then it goes back to the moon and stays there, and the last four episodes are as good as anything of their kind on television. Getting that far depends on your patience with men being unhappy in kitchens. The hardware is the pleasure. Seth Reed and Dan Bishop build a mission control of green screens, ashtrays and rotary telephones, and a lunar surface that is a flat grey floor under a black sky with nothing to soften it. The camera team, Stephen McNutt and Cort Fey among them, light the moon with a single hard source, so the shadows fall like cut paper and a man in a white suit is the brightest thing in the frame. Esther Marquis and Alonzo Wilson put the men in short sleeves and thin ties and the wives in the pastels of a decade about to end. Jeff Russo and Paul Doucette score the launches with brass and leave the surface mostly to breath and radio, which is the right call. Joel Kinnaman plays Ed Baldwin as a man who cannot say what he feels and so says something rude instead, and it is a better performance than the writing around it. Michael Dorman’s Gordo Stevens is the charmer of the pair, the one who drinks and grins and is plainly heading somewhere bad. The strongest thread is the women’s programme. Krys Marshall’s Danielle Poole and Jodi Balfour’s Ellen Wilson are given the indignities of the job in detail, the suits cut for other bodies, the instructors who want them to fail, and both play it without asking for sympathy. Coral Peña’s Aleida Rosales starts at the edge of the story and, over the later seasons, becomes one of its engineers; hers is the arc we ended up caring about most. The trouble is that the show keeps cutting away from all of this to watch its men sulk. Ed’s marriage gets scene after scene of the same argument. The first six episodes each seem to contain a meeting, a drink, a row and a launch, in roughly that order, and with fourteen editors credited across the run it is no surprise that the rhythm changes from week to week. Nobody is clearly in charge of the story. Some critics have said the show lacks a protagonist and they are right; it has half a dozen and gives each of them a fraction of a season. We were not gripped for a long time, and we said so aloud. Then, in the middle of the first season, the show puts a handful of people on the moon with a failing supply line and a radio, and we found we were leaning forward. One broadcast from the surface, late in the run, left us with damp eyes, which surprised us, because the series had done little to earn it in Houston. It earned it on the moon: one face in a helmet, one voice, a long silence and no score. Moore’s [*Battlestar Galactica*](https://film.one/tv/battlestar-galactica) (2004) took a story about spaceships and made it about people who could not stop arguing about how to live. This is built the same way and takes longer to get there. Each later season jumps ahead by roughly a decade and brings in new faces, Toby Kebbell and Edi Gathegi among them, and the show grows steadier as its history moves further from ours and it stops having to check itself against the real dates. Give it three episodes and then decide. If the sight of the moon as a grey car park under a black sky does nothing for you, nothing that follows will either. If it does, stay, and know that the first season is ten episodes, that the certificate is a 15, and that there is a bigger rocket every decade. *Fi1m score 66, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics agree the hook is a good one: the Soviets reach the moon first in 1969 and the space race does not end. Several reviews call it the best of the Apple launch slate, and the praise gathers around the same departments: production and costume design that shift with the years, capably staged space sequences, and a broad cast in which Joel Kinnaman and Michael Dorman are picked out. The Ringer adds that the altered history prompts reflection on the real one. The reservations are about pace and focus. The word that recurs is slow, and more than one review finds the storytelling scattershot, with no clear protagonist and the women pushed to the edges. The spread is wide. Paste is the warmest; IndieWire is the lone outright dislike, judging the premise squandered by dull choices. Collider and Den of Geek sit in the middle, finding a mess that becomes worth the time by the back half. ### Reviews we read (10) - **Radio Times** (4/5): The critic finds the alternate-history space race drama gripping and one of Apple TV+'s stronger launch titles, with strong performances, appealing visuals, and uplifting moments across a broad cast. It singles out the reimagined 1969 scenario—where the Soviets reach the moon first—as a compelling hook that escalates into a battle for lunar control. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/for-all-mankind-review-apple-tv-joel-kinnaman/) - **Variety**, Caroline Framke (80/100, inferred): The review calls the series the strongest of Apple TV+’s launch slate and undeniably compelling, praising its ambitious alternate-history premise, evolving production and costume design, and strong direction especially in space sequences. It notes the writing can feel shaggy given the scope but ultimately keeps the drama grounded in character choices. [Read](https://variety.com/2019/tv/reviews/for-all-mankind-apple-tv-plus-review-1203384012/) - **The Guardian** (50/100, inferred): The critic finds the alternate-history space race series adequately entertaining and the best of Apple's initial TV+ offerings, though rarely compelling. Production design and storytelling are praised as handsome distractions and well-honed, respectively, while the lack of a clear protagonist makes it feel scattershot at times. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/oct/31/for-all-mankind-review-apple-tv-space) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Tim Goodman (50/100, inferred): The critic deems the show a solid but familiar attempt at epic storytelling that moves too slowly and does little with its alternate-history concept beyond minor tweaks. It highlights the expensive look, strong cast including Joel Kinnaman and Michael Dorman, and capable weaving of real and fictional characters, but finds the overall execution disappointing. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/all-mankind-review-1250340/) - **Vulture**, Kathryn VanArendonk (50/100, inferred): The critic is torn, appreciating the alternate-history premise and visual spectacle but frustrated by slow pacing, uneven focus on male characters over women, and underdeveloped side plots. It has potential but feels jumbled after several episodes. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2019/10/for-all-mankind-apple-review.html) - **IndieWire**, Steve Greene (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the alternate-history premise squandered by dull, uninteresting storytelling choices at every turn. The show fails to capitalize on its possibilities around the space race and women astronauts. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/shows/for-all-mankind-review-apple-tv-plus-1202184672/) - **Paste**, Jacob Oller (9.5/10): The critic calls it a must-see prestige drama that excels by blending alt-history politics, meticulous technical details, strong ensemble performances, and emotional depth. It turns national competition into unexpected social progress while grounding the spectacle in flawed human stories. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/for-all-mankind/for-all-mankind-review-apple) - **The Ringer**, Michael Baumann (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the series ambitious and thought-provoking in its alternate-history premise but notes it lacks subtlety and has uneven acting and dialogue. The show is praised for its engaging depiction of a recognizable yet altered reality that prompts reflection on real-world history. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2019/11/04/tv/for-all-mankind-apple-tv-plus-astronaut-show) - **Collider**, Haleigh Foutch (★★★): The critic views the series as a slow but ultimately gripping character-driven drama about sexism in the workplace and American ambition in an alternate-history space race. It feels familiar, like Mad Men set at NASA, but benefits from strong performances and standout episodes in the back half. [Read](https://collider.com/for-all-mankind-review/) - **Den of Geek**, Delia Harrington (3/5): The series is a bit of a mess with lackluster execution and too much focus on male astronauts, but ultimately a worthwhile what-if exercise. It shines in capturing the awe of space travel and some supporting characters. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/for-all-mankind-review-spoiler-free/) ## Details - **Created by:** Matt Wolpert, Ronald D. Moore, Ben Nedivi - **Creator:** Matt Wolpert, Ronald D. Moore, Ben Nedivi - **Director:** Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, Dan Liu, Meera Menon, Sarah Boyd, Sylvain White, Andrew Stanton, Seth Gordon, Maja Vrvilo, Lukas Ettlin, Dennie Gordon, Wendey Stanzler, Allen Coulter, John Dahl, Craig Zisk, Michael Morris - **Writer:** David Weddle, Bradley Thompson, Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert, Nichole Beattie, Joe Menosky, Sabrina Almeida, Ronald D. Moore, Stephanie Shannon, Eric W. Phillips, Jovan Robinson, Andrew Black, Nina Braddock, Kira Snyder, Kate Burns, Colby Day, Naren Shankar - **Story:** Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert, Ronald D. Moore - **Teleplay:** Ronald D. Moore - **Cinematography:** Ross Berryman, Stephen McNutt, Karl Walter Lindenlaub, Cort Fey - **Editor:** Hibah Schweitzer, David Bilow, Michael O'Halloran, Miklos Wright, Justin Bourret, Dean Pollack, Erin St. Pierre, Dana Gasparine, Scott Gamzon, Nathan Gunn, Bryan Bailey, Kyle Keris, Jonathan Chibnall, David Greenspan - **Music:** Jeff Russo, Paul Doucette - **Production design:** Dan Bishop, Seth Reed - **Costume design:** Esther Marquis, Alonzo Wilson - **Producer:** Huey M. Park, Seth Edelstein, Dia Dufault - **Cast:** Joel Kinnaman as Ed Baldwin; Toby Kebbell as Miles Dale; Michael Dorman as Gordon 'Gordo' Stevens; Mireille Enos as Celia Boyd; Edi Gathegi as Dev Ayesa; Krys Marshall as Danielle Poole; Cynthy Wu as Kelly Baldwin; Coral Peña as Aleida Rosales - **Certificate (MPA):** TV-MA - **Release (the US):** 1 November 2019 - **Genres:** Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, War & Politics - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZS9M52Bd_w ## Where to watch in the US - Apple TV: streaming, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, PT, SE, SG, TH, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *From the Earth to the Moon* (1998): The real Apollo programme, told an episode at a time, with the same love of hardware. - *The Right Stuff* (1983), Fi1m 86: Test pilots, wives and press conferences; the template this series is working from. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-right-stuff.md) - *Deutschland 83* (2015): The Cold War from the other side of the wall, faster and funnier than this. - *The Man in the High Castle* (2015): Another altered America, darker and stranger, for those who like the what-if more than the rockets. - *Hidden Figures* (2016), Fi1m 80: The women NASA actually had, and the doors they had to push open to do the sums. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/hidden-figures.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/for-all-mankind-2019