What we know about Ron D. Moore’s For All Mankind so far

Outlander’s Ron D. Moore has a new series coming out. Here’s all we know about For All Mankind so far. Is it something for Outlander fans?

There are a lot of “what ifs” in history. Many shows have covered some, including The Man in the High Castle, The Watchmen, and more. Now it’s time for a space race what if series. Outlander’s Ron D. Moore will bring For All Mankind to Apple TV soon.

Moore talked to Collider about the series. Here’s a look at everything we know so far.

Alternate history with a twist

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While For All Mankind is alternate history, there’s a slight twist. Other shows you’re used to, like The Man in the High Castle, already put you into the alternate world. With the Amazon series, you’re already in a world where the Axis powers won the war more than a decade earlier.

Moore’s series will pull us into a world from the start. We see the change to history—the Soviet Union putting the first men on the moon. From there, we see the United States’ next moves. Unlike with the real Space Race, the race isn’t over. The Soviet Union won the race to the moon, but there’s a race to other planets still going on.

This series was developed because of Moore’s love of sci-fi. It’s based on his personal experience watching the Apollo 11 mission and the hope that it would lead to more, like planet discovery, colonization and more. It’s not surprising to see that America decides to push for more after losing the race to the moon.

Length and cast

For All Mankind has a star-studded cast attached. Altered Carbon and Hanna star Joel Kinnaman will take on one of the lead roles He’ll be joined by Michael Dorman, Shantel VanSanten, Jodi Balfour, Sarah Jones, and Wrenn Schmidt.

Those who know about the Apollo 11 mission and the historical figures of the era will be happy to know that some will appear. It’s not clear exactly who yet, but Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin will be included.

There are 10 episodes to the season in total, each an hour long. So far, there’s only the one series. Should it perform well on the Apple TV streaming service it could be renewed for a second season. I get the feeling that there’s plenty of scope to expand this series.

While the budget isn’t Game of Thrones size, it does sound a little larger than Outlander. It would need to be fairly large for the effects that would be needed for a space race series.

There were other ideas

This isn’t Moore’s first idea of a space race story. In fact, the previous series he considered is among the reasons For All Mankind is on Apple TV.

Zack Van Amburg, a co-president at Apple TV+, and Moore once chatted about an idea of a show set in the 1970s Skylab era. While they chatted, that idea didn’t go anywhere. However, a few years later, Amburg brought up the idea of a Mad Men at NASA.

That idea was certainly something Moore considered, liking the idea of the character-orientated piece. However, there was more to the 1970s era with the budget cutbacks and the failed missions. Then there were the canceled Mars missions. It was time to do something that involved them, and that’s how For All Mankind developed.

There’s no need to know your history

Don’t know too much about the history of the space race? There’s no need to. All you need to know is that the United States put a man on the moon first.

This is alternate history. It picks up with the Soviets putting the man on the moon first and then develops from there. However, if you do want to know more about the real history, you can always do your research afterward.

With it being alternate history, don’t expect anything from real history being used. This is the joy of this type of historical fiction. There are elements of the Soviet program used, but since that was (and still is) shrouded in so much history, it’s not surprising that some liberties need to be taken.

One thing eagle-eyed fans will notice is that the NASA emblem is slightly changed. This is due to NASA’s policy. The only time NASA will allow shows and movies to use the emblem properly is if this is a historically accurate production. Since this is alternate history, slight changes were needed.

Will you watch For All Mankind as an Outlander fan? What are you watching to get through Droughtlander? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

For All Mankind will be on Apple TV+ sometime in the fall.