‘For All Mankind’ Creators Have Planned an Arc Up to Season 7!!

For All Mankind, Apple TV+‘s continually and immensely popular series is heading into its fourth season and the alternate history sci-fi series is edging ever closer to the present day. But one question for two of the creative minds behind the show — Ben Nedivi and Matt Wolpert — is this: what is the natural stopping point? Season 4 brings us to the year 2003, as we approach “theoretical” story arcs based on the alternative science dreamt up in the history of the show.

Speaking with Collider‘s Steve Weintraub, Nedivi and Wolpert covered a wide variety of subjects including the new characters, the branched timeline of the series, and the roadmap for the show going forward. Weintraub asked the duo about how far ahead the series was planned, and what fans could expect in terms of finality for the show’s run on Apple TV+. Nedevi revealed that, from the beginning, they had the ambitious plan of nailing the story over “six or seven” seasons, with us as viewers just passing the halfway point with the upcoming fourth installment.

“We had a very ambitious road map, I would say,” said Nedevi. He went on to say:

“Early on, we planned this out over six or seven seasons, so we’re still on the road map, and I’m proud to say that we’ve stuck to, I think, the big goalposts we’ve had so far. Obviously, there are changes every season, and we leave the writers and the writers’ room flexibility to go off the map if we have to or make changes. But right now, I mean, we’re sort of past the halfway point in a way, you know, and it’s fascinating. As in most TV shows, in the beginning, you dream of like, ‘Oh, I see this big arc…’ As ambitious as we were, I don’t think at that moment we really felt we were like, ‘Oh, yeah, for sure. Let’s talk about what’s gonna happen in Season 6 of the show,’ but here we are premiering Season 4.”

What is ‘For All Mankind’ About?

For Nedevi, one of the show’s legacies will be the way they’ve had the opportunity to show the advancement in technology as well as the evolution of the characters as their generational lines. The series has always represented a superb look at “what could have been” had humanity found different avenues to take in the past. It will continue to be a “What if?” and move into a “What might be?” as the series reaches and then overtakes our present day.

“It’s incredible to see the opportunity we’ve had not only to show how the show is advanced, and technology is advanced on the show, but how these characters have evolved that now you’re seeing their children, and even their children’s children. That opportunity makes the show really unique, and I think the hope is to be able to take that story all the way to the present time. I think that was always, for me, a goal of how amazing it would be to get to the present of our alt-history and kind of see how different the world could have been. I think that that’s something we’re really looking forward to.”

Returning to the series from last season are Joel Kinnaman, Wrenn Schmidt, Krys Marshall, Edi Gathegi, Cynthy Wu, and Coral Peña. Season 4 also brings in a host of new stars, including the likes of Toby Kebbell, Tyner Rushing, Daniel Stern, and Svetlana Efremova.