Apple TV's Coolest Sci-Fi Show Is Going Full Anime, And We're Here For It

Apple TV has many of the best sci-fi shows currently airing, a myriad of spectacular productions that show the genre's versatility. There are big blockbuster shows with incredible visuals and stories with epic scopes like "Foundation," and also smaller sci-fi dramas with high concepts that comment on our reality like "Severance." One of the best sci-fi shows on Apple TV is "For All Mankind," an epic sci-fi show about an alternate timeline where Russia made it to the Moon before the U.S. This creates a ripple effect that changes history for the better. As the space race never really ended, it kickstarted a new modern age where science and technology are at the top of everyone's minds for the benefit of all mankind.

In a way, "For All Mankind" is a show that imagines how we could have gone from our universe to something like "Star Trek" (sans the aliens), where humanity unites and reaches the stars. That classic sci-fi franchise does exist in the world of "For All Mankind," but with a much different history. Though it is very much grounded in hard science fiction, imagining a gradual advancement of science and technology that allows us to conquer the Moon and colonize Mars, the show does touch on more fantastical elements.

It is very clear in the teaser for season 5, which shows humanity fully colonizing Mars, that they're opening up plenty of avenues for trouble. Specifically, a press release for the new season says it will focus on tensions between the citizens of Mars and their former home. This is a simple plot with a long history in anime, as that's what the most famous and influential sci-fi anime of all time is about. That's right, "For All Mankind" is pulling a "Mobile Suit Gundam."

According to Apple TV, the new season of "For All Mankind" sees tensions rise when the nations of Earth demand "law and order on the Red Planet," which causes friction to build between the citizens of Mars and their former home.

The idea of conflict between space colonists and Earthers is not a new one, of course. Isaac Asimov's "Galactic Empire" epic features conflicts between the "Spacers," the first humans to travel to the stars, and the "Settlers," who remained on Earth for much longer until the planet became all but uninhabitable. Likewise, "The Expanse" deals with a cold war of sorts between Earth and Mars, and the citizens of the asteroid belt, whom they deemed as lesser than.

The best portrayal of this story, however, came in Yoshiyuki Tomino's 1979 anime classic "Mobile Suit Gundam." This hugely influential anime, akin to "Star Wars," focuses on a war between the Earth Federation and a group of space colonies known as the Principality of Zeon. In the original anime, this leads to Zeon launching a war of independence that lasted only one year, but was devastating for both sides. Half of all humanity dies within the first week of the conflict, as both sides used weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, and the Zeon literally dropping an entire space colony onto Earth and annihilating Australia.

"Gundam" is one of the biggest and most influential anime franchises from Japan, being referenced in everything from "Mega Man" to Steven Spielberg's "Ready Player One." It revolutionized the mecha genre in anime by popularizing what is now known as the "real robot" genre that treats the giant robot as an actual machine rather than a quasi-magical entity.

"For All Mankind" is a show that's as nuanced and poignant as it is silly and absurd. This is a show that features an octogenarian man, somehow not just alive after several super dangerous missions, but also still in a position of power at NASA. As played by Joel Kinnaman, Ed Baldwin is a hilariously over-the-top character, brought to life by ridiculous old man makeup that somehow works. And yet, seeing the new images of Ed in the new season is quite exciting, and the way the show uses time as a storytelling tool is spectacular. This is, of course, after Ed had one of the best scenes in all of TV in 2024 when he agrees to pull a heist on a giant asteroid in a scene scored to DMX's " X Gon' Give It To Ya."

Now, the show has a chance to go full sci-fi by using a classic genre trope. Earthers vs. Spacers works because it can be used to comment on humanity's prejudices without pointing at any specific culture. It works because it can also unite all of Earth against a common enemy in a sci-fi setting. It also works simply because it makes for a conflict of huge proportions. If Mars ends up gaining full independence from Earth in "For All Mankind," it is the first step towards humanity's proper expansion into the cosmos. It is the first step to the show portraying a future where humanity barely remembers that it originated on a single, blue planet. The future is bright for what is one of the best sci-fi shows around.

"For All Mankind" is set to premiere on Apple TV on March 27, 2026.