For All Mankind has barely returned, and we’re already having to deal with the prospect of saying goodbye. The incredible AppleTV series is finally back for Season 5, but the streamer has already confirmed the next one, Season 6, will be its last. This news came as a shock for some, though, as it was always believed that the show would run for seven seasons as a multi-generation epic. Knowing how streaming works, fans immediately started worrying whether For All Mankind would get to finish on its own terms, or if this would mean a rushed ending. Now, series co-creator Ben Nedivi has clarified what’s going on.
‘For All Mankind’ Has Followed Its Creators’ “Roadmap” to the End
Back in 2023, when Season 4 premiered, Nedivi spoke to Collider about the plans he and For All Mankind co-creators Ronald D. Moore and Matt Wolpert had for the series, stating that they had “planned this out over six or seven seasons” and were “still on the roadmap.” Now, with Season 5 airing and the end of the story being closer than we thought, he came forward once again to calm fans, as the trio’s plan is still intact with no changes.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
“To correct the record, it was never seven seasons. We’d always said it’d be ‘like six or seven,’” Nedivi explained, following up that their initial intent wasn’t necessarily tied to a specific number of seasons, but rather to a point in the series’ alternate historical timeline. “We realized as we’ve been working on the show and getting closer and closer to that point in terms of the time jumps,” he said, and that they felt they “only needed one more season to complete that story and to complete the roadmap.”
So, the decision to end For All Mankind in Season 6 seems to have come from the creators themselves, and has nothing to do with executive decisions from the streaming management, which, nowadays, is often the norm considering audience, cost, and other factors. Thankfully, the series has always done pretty well within those parameters, but it couldn’t go on indefinitely, either. Having a show as good as For All Mankind come to a natural end is so rare, it turns out, it’s shocking when it happens.
The Goal Was Always for the Series To Reach Present-Day
The idea that For All Mankind would last seven seasons actually came from its intended timeline, set in an alternate history where the Soviets beat the US to the Moon. Nedivi explains that “the goal was always, from the beginning, getting us to the present” and “show how different the world could have been.” In the series’ continuity, the space race never ended, as the US decides to continue investing in space exploration instead of conceding defeat, building a much different world over the decades.
Following this premise, each season takes place in a different decade — Season 1 takes place between June 1969 and the end of 1974, the second is set in the early 1980s, and so on, until Season 5, which is currently set in the 2010s. Season 6, then, will almost certainly be set in the 2020s, thus reaching the present day and following the original “roadmap.” “We’re still on the same plan we’ve had. It does feel like we’re able to catch up to that present day in Season 6,” says Nedivi.
Hopefully, we won’t have to wait another three years between Seasons 5 and 6, although it looks very much like we will, given the lack of further updates besides the renewal announcement and the upcoming release of show’s spin-off series Star City. Even if the final season arrives in 2029 or 2030, it could still be considered present-day, with the 2020s setting working just as well. As much as any fan would like For All Mankind to continue beyond that, it was never the series’ intention, and it is a creative line that perhaps shouldn’t be crossed.
It Makes Sense To End ‘For All Mankind’ in Season 6
For All Mankind Season 5Image via Apple TV
Considering the current streaming landscape, a successful series is often one that has overwhelming viewership and has been exhausted in terms of potential, usually betraying its own purpose. The recurring exception is exactly AppleTV, a platform that has seemingly understood that viewership often follows well-told, high-concept stories, such as For All Mankind. Elsewhere, most shows reaching a six-season milestone often become derivative, extending way beyond their potential.
Even from a storytelling perspective, it’s definitely better if For All Mankind ends on its own terms rather than being stretched out. On other platforms, its premise of telling a multi-generational epic could very well be a reason to keep extending it and introducing new protagonists to take the older ones’ places and go beyond present-day, but that would betray its purpose; it becomes an exercise in imagination that is no longer anchored in our reality and doesn’t provide a parameter of how different things could have been.
Finally, considering protagonist Ed Baldwin’s (Joel Kinnaman) journey, there’s not much more for him to do. His own longevity is often a gag among fans, and he is already in his 80s in Season 5. His very presence in Season 6 is already debated, since, despite the many technological advancements in the series, not much is known about how medicine has improved. Unless a miracle in this field is suddenly discovered, he would be in his 100s if the show was ever to go past Season 6. So, even for Ed’s own sake, as great as his character is, sticking the landing in Season 6 is better than risking another one.
For All Mankind is available to stream on AppleTV. New episodes air weekly on Fridays.
