Skip to main content

Apple TV’s first original series is Man in the High Castle meets First Man

For All Mankind — Official First Look Trailer | Apple TV+

Shows set in alternate histories are all the rage right now, so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Apple has its own spin on a “What if?” theme in the works.

Apple delivered the first look at For All Mankind — expected to be the first original series for streaming platform Apple TV Plus — during the opening presentation of its annual Worldwide Developer Conference, held June 3 at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California.

The series is set in an alternate timeline in which the space race never ended, and nations continue to push each other in a competition to journey farther into the galaxy. For All Mankind has an impressive sci-fi pedigree, with award-winning Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek writer Ronald D. Moore on board the project as creator and co-writer, along with Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi.

In the preview of the series that debuted during Apple’s WWDC keynote presentation, the show presents a timeline in which the Soviet Union was first to land on the moon, prompting an escalation of the space race far beyond the history we know.

Streaming television networks have found quite a bit of success with exploring alternate timelines in recent years. The Man in the High Castle has earned acclaim for Amazon Studios with its “What if the Nazis won World War II?” premise, while Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale — which unfolds after a second civil war in the U.S. — has been an Emmy and Golden Globe darling for two seasons now.

The cast of For All Mankind includes Suicide Squad actor Joel Kinnaman as Edward Baldwin, Mad Men actor Nick Toren as Tim “Bird Dog” McKiernan, Sarah Jones as Tracy Stevens, Michael Dorman as Gordo Stevens, Olivia Trujillo as Aleida Rosales, Independence Day: Resurgence actor Arturo Del Puerto as Octavio Rosales, Wrenn Schmidt as Margo Madison, Shantel VanSanten as Karen Baldwin, and Yes Man actor Spencer Garrett as Roger Scott. House of Cards actor Chris Agos portrays Apollo 11 pilot Buzz Aldrin in the series.

The series is expected to debut when Apple TV Plus launches in the fall, but there’s been no exact date set for the service to premiere at this point.

Editors' Recommendations

Rick Marshall
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
Like the Apple TV+ series Franklin? Then watch these 3 shows right now
Simone Ashley and Jonathan Bailey as Kate and Anthony dancing in Bridgerton.

Michael Douglas returns to television as a Founding Father in the Apple TV+ miniseries, Franklin. Douglas plays Benjamin Franklin, the brilliant scientist-turned-politician who embarks on a secret mission to France in 1776. Without U.S. government support, Franklin went rogue across the Atlantic to convince the French to support the U.S. in the Revolutionary War.

If you're looking for more period pieces and historical dramas to watch, you've come to the right place. Below are three shows to watch right now if you enjoyed Franklin. Our picks include a critically acclaimed miniseries about John Adams, a seductive Netflix romance, and an underrated Revolutionary War series.
John Adams (2008)

Read more
Let’s discuss an Apple TV 4K with a camera
An actual picture of an Apple TV, with a camera lens added by Photoshop's generative AI feature.

This Apple TV with a camera is not real — it's a product of a real Apple TV 4K and Photoshop. And that's likely as close as you'll get to one. Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

Here’s a not-so-secret secret about tech companies: They discuss all the things all of the time. Good ideas. Bad ideas. Good ideas that turn out to be bad. Bad ideas that, surprisingly, turn out to be good.

Read more
Hands-on with the Belkin iPhone Mount with MagSafe for Apple TV 4K
The Belkin iPhone Mount with MagSafe for Apple TV 4K.

The Belkin iPhone Mount with MagSafe for Apple TV 4K perched atop an extremely thin OLED television. Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

The Belkin iPhone Mount with MagSafe for Apple TV 4K is one mouthful of an official name. What it does is much more simple. It is a mount for your iPhone to be used with an Apple TV 4K. And it has MagSafe to keep the phone in place. That's it.

Read more