Joel Kinnaman Knows Why Sci-Fi Fans Love Apple TV's For All Mankind So Much
by Joe Roberts · /FilmAdd SlashFilm on Google:
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For All Mankind" will end with the upcoming Season 6, and for fans, it will be a bittersweet moment. On one hand, the show will have accomplished its mission to explore an alternate world history that spans seven decades, marking a major triumph for its creators and for audiences who have stuck with it from the beginning. On the other hand, the series has enjoyed stellar reviews ever since its 2019 release, and unlike so much modern sci-fi, it presents a hopeful vision that's doubtlessly brought significant comfort to viewers given the times in which we live. And for star Joel Kinnaman, who plays astronaut Edward Baldwin, that optimistic outlook is the key to the show's appeal.
"It's an optimistic show," the actor told Esquire in 2022. "We're bombarded with bad news. We're bombarded with grim predictions of the future. This is a serious show, and not every single moment is rosy and optimistic. But overall, it's a very hopeful show, and I think that's part of why it's found an audience."
"For All Mankind" begins with the Soviets landing on the Moon in 1969 before the United States, spurring renewed competition between Russia and the U.S. and worldwide investment in space travel. This then leads to unparalleled innovation, with countries not only developing new technologies but experiencing significant societal evolution that affects everything from civil rights to global warming. By Season 4, humanity has managed to colonize the Moon, Mars, and an asteroid that provides an alternative energy source. So, while there's plenty of drama and tumult along the way, "For All Mankind" ultimately presents a counterfactual vision of world history that, in many crucial ways, is much more positive than the reality of the late 20th and early 21st Century. Clearly, viewers have responded, and Kinnaman has noticed.
Joel Kinnaman appreciates how For All Mankind blends hope and realism
"For All Mankind" is one of the best sci-fi shows on Apple TV, and it's provided Joel Kinnaman with five seasons of solid work following his departure from the DC Extended Universe. Kinnaman's other Apple TV series ("Imperfect Women") was a star-studded disappointment, and he's otherwise found success with action thrillers of a distinctly B-movie variety. But "For All Mankind" is easily his most prestigious modern day project, and the actor is well aware of the show's quality.
In his Esquire interview, Kinnaman told the outlet how he sees the series as being "ultimately about hope," adding. "We have an underlying optimism, but without losing the characters' truths. It never teeters over and becomes too preachy or sappy." But the actor also thinks that, beyond providing a more encouraging view of recent history, "For All Mankind" maintains a level of realism that sets it apart. "It's the most grounded sci-fi show of all time," he explained. "I mean, it almost doesn't reveal itself to be a sci-fi show until midway through Season 1, when we build the moonbase. But it's still very low-key sci-fi."
Kinnaman went on to point to the "10-year jump per season," which allows audiences to "see the societal progression, how innovation is speeding up and giving humanity these tools to reach deeper into the universe." For the Swedish star, that in and of itself is a huge part of the show's appeal, as it makes its version of history more believable. It's all well and good showcasing an alternate history where everything works out for the better, but if it's too fantastical, nobody will buy it. For Kinnaman, the combination of reality and optimism is what makes "For All Mankind" such a reliably popular series.
For All Mankind's brand of hopeful sci-fi is the future
Joel Kinnaman isn't the only one who's picked up on the appeal of more hopeful, feel-good sci-fi stories. "Project Hail Mary" author Andy Weir has criticized "Black Mirror" for its bleak take on technological development and even gone so far as to attack dystopian sci-fi more generally. During an appearance on the "Conversations with Tyler" podcast, the writer pointed to a specific kind of "dystopian future with a semi-fascist government" sci-fi narrative which he believes has "been done to death."
With the original "Project Hail Mary" book and its film adaptation, there's a palpable sense of hope and optimism that's clearly resonating with audiences. "Project Hail Mary" continues one of the most important sci-fi missions of "Star Trek" by depicting a world wherein humanity not only triumphs over a seemingly insurmountable cosmological threat but also forges bonds with alien races. The movie has made $685.3 million in theaters, so, obviously, audiences like what they're seeing. Another not entirely unrelated example of more hopeful narratives coming to the fore is James Gunn's charming crowd-pleaser "Superman," which marked a sharp divergence from the dreariness of Zack Snyder's DCEU — the shared universe from which Kinnaman is now a refugee.
All of which is to say that Kinnaman and Weir might be onto something. Not only are "For All Mankind" and "Project Hail Mary" examples of more optimistic sci-fi visions, they're examples of hard sci-fi to boot. Both employ realistic science and technology to craft more sanguine visions of humanity and its ability to innovate and evolve, and they've found huge success along the way. While things often seem to be getting more grim in the real world, then, we'll likely see more and more of these kinds of narratives cropping up.