Joel Kinnaman’s Ed Baldwin has been a reliable and enjoyable character throughout For All Mankind. He wants to be an astronaut. That’s all he really knows what to do, and we have seen him go through that every season.
There are times that others have wanted him out, and he switched from NASA to a private company. Since then, he’s found his place on missions, and in the fourth season, we learned he kept finding a reason not to come back to Earth. The reasoning behind it has us ready not to see Ed in For All Mankind Season 5.
Why didn’t Ed Baldwin return to Earth in For All Mankind Season 4?
During the fourth season, Ed finally admitted that he didn’t want to return home because it would be the last time he’d be allowed in space. He is old, and he knows his health is deteriorating. He’s 72 in the fourth season, and we’re seeing him suffer from hand tremors.
Ed wants to die in space. He doesn’t want to end up in adult diapers or constantly needing care when he’s older. That’s not the life of an astronaut. So, now he’s trapped.
Could Ed Baldwin die before For All Mankind Season 5?
While a lot of shows don’t usually do deaths in between seasons, For All Mankind has done. We just have to look at how Molly Cobb was killed off. We saw her head back into the building to save more people at the end of Season 3, and then didn’t see her again. It was in the news reports to catch us up on events in the Season 4 premiere that we learned she had been killed in that event.
The show could do something similar with Ed at the start of Season 5. Maybe something happens in Happy Valley in between seasons, or maybe he heads back to Earth and dies there. A man like Ed would be honored in some sort of way, and we’d need to be caught up on the events.
I’d love to see Ed, but the show has to keep bringing in new characters. With the time jumps, it would mean Ed would be around 81 when For All Mankind Season 5 takes place. Even if he is around, the chances of seeing him on a space mission are slim.
For All Mankind is available to stream on Apple TV+.
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