Apple has set a release date for its science fiction series For All Mankind, about an alternate space race in which the Soviet Union reached the surface of the Moon first, leading to a protracted space race between it and the United States.
The show is one of Apple’s original shows for its streaming service Apple TV +, and it will return on February 19th, 2021.
Created by Battlestar Galactica‘s Ron Moore, the first season debuted last year on the platform, and followed NASA as it raced to catch up with the Soviet Union when it landed a couple of astronauts on the lunar surface in 1969. In the first half of the series, NASA realizes that it has to work faster, and needs more astronauts; unlike real-world events, it recruits female and African American astronaut candidates and begins to train them.
As the space race continues on, NASA lands more astronauts on the surface, and sets up a lunar base to try and find ice, in the hopes that it can set up a permanent settlement before the Russians.
Earlier this year, Apple released a first teaser for the series, with a time jump from the 1970s to the 1980s. The teaser showed that tensions between the US and USSR have escalated, and armed astronauts preparing for a fight over resources on the Moon against the backdrop of nuclear war.
In its announcement (via Deadline), Apple revealed that Cynthy Wu (This Close, Weird City), Coral Peña (The Post) and Casey W. Johnson (Glow, Rise) are joining the show—Wu will play Kelly Baldwin, the daughter of the show’s lead characters Ed and Karen Baldwin. Peña will play a “brilliant yet troubled engineer Aleida Rosales,” and Johnson will play Danny Stevens, the son of astronauts Gordo and Tracy Stevens.
The series will debut on Friday, February 19th, with new episodes dropping weekly.
