'For All Mankind' Trailer: Apple TV+ Show Imagines What Would Have Happened If The Space Race Never Ended

Desire can be a powerful thing, but the desire to be the best can push people to achieve legendary accomplishments. That desire is what drove the United States to win the space race by putting a man on the moon after the Soviets were the first to put a human being in space. But what if history played out slightly differently? Battlestar Galactica and Outlander's Ronald D. Moore has a new show coming soon on Apple TV+ called For All Mankind that envisions that alternate history, and the first trailer has already lifted off. Check it out below.

After a recent string of alternate history shows, I sort of shrugged when I first heard about the premise for this series. But this trailer has piqued my interest, and it's largely because it taps into a distinctly American sense of dominating the competition. Oh, the Soviets beat us to the moon? Guess what, we're going to Saturn, motherf*ckers. The show seems to be about the United States moving the goalposts and refusing to accept a clear defeat – and while that notion is terrifying when it comes to real-life issues like modern partisan politics (Merrick Garland, anyone?), applying it to an aspirational show about science and space exploration weirdly seems like a cathartic outlet.

Joel Kinnaman (The Killing, Altered Carbon), Michael Dorman (Patriot), Wrenn Schmidt (Outcast, Boardwalk Empire, The Americans), Shantel VanSanten (Shooter, One Tree Hill), Sarah Jones (Alcatraz, Vegas), and Jodi Balfour (Bomb Girls) star. Seth Gordon (The King of Kong, Horrible Bosses) directed at least one episode of the ten-episode first season, and Matt Wolpert (Fargo) and Ben Nedivi (American Crime Story) are writing and executive producing the series alongside Moore.

Here's the show's official synopsis:

For All Mankind is created by Emmy® Award winner Ronald D. Moore (Outlander, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica), Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi. Told through the lives of NASA astronauts, engineers and their families, For All Mankind presents an aspirational world where NASA and the space program remained a priority and a focal point of our hopes and dreams.

For All Mankind will premiere on Apple TV+. The press release doesn't indicate whether it will be available when the new service launches this fall or if subscribers will have to wait a while longer for it to debut, but Deadline claims the first season has been ready to go for several months.