Apple TV+ released the For All Mankind Season 4 trailer at New York Comic Con, and all we can say is “yes. We needed this.” Even at its scariest moments, and even when things seem most difficult or most impossible, this series has always been able to show us something dangerously close to hope. So, even though the trailer features plenty of reasons to be concerned, and even if the official synopsis seems to indicate tensions that can reverse so much progress, we’re just looking forward to getting another chance to visit with this much better world.
This season, we’re leaving the ’90s and visiting with our heroes in 2003. Now, the early 2000s definitely had their ups and downs. Which means there are so, so many things that happened 20 years ago that we very much would like not to see happen again. But instead of letting our imaginations take us down horrifying paths that couple true events with the vastly-improved technology on this show, we’re just going to put our faith in the writers and say we just don’t expect to see one very real years-long war replaced with an even worse fictional one. Sure, there’s a struggle happening in the trailer, and we know that means we’re probably going to hurt plenty of times before we get a chance to heal. But the trailer ends in a much, much more optimistic place. Where? With two old friends, ready to make history — “always.”
Speaking of old friends, it’s really nice to see some of ours. Like Dani (Krys Marshall), Ed (Joel Kinnaman), and Kelly (Cynthy Wu). And old friends like Dev (Edi Gathegi) Aleida (Coral Peña) and even Margo (Wrenn Schmidt). Yes, we know they’re not real people, but they’ve always felt real. So there.
What can we expect in Season 4?
A new season means not just familiar faces but some newer ones, too, and Season 4 brings us new series regulars Toby Kebbell, Tyner Rushing, Daniel Stern and Svetlana Efremova. Now, what are they up to? According to the synopsis from Apple:
“Rocketing into the new millennium in the eight years since season three, Happy Valley has rapidly expanded its footprint on Mars by turning former foes into partners. Now 2003, the focus of the space program has turned to the capture and mining of extremely valuable, mineral-rich asteroids that could change the future of both Earth and Mars. But simmering tensions between the residents of the now-sprawling international base threaten to undo everything they are working towards.”
Between the “extremely valuable” phrase in that description and some of the quotes in the trailer — “What are you going to do with all that money if you’re dead?” and “people are going to keep getting hurt while your bank accounts grow bigger and bigger” — we are very interested to see if, and how, the season copes with what greed can do to destroy people. Not just the people who become consumed by it, no, but by others around them too. If For All Mankind does attempt to have that discussion but gets it wrong, we’ll be sure to say so. (See also: …that one series with one of the protagonists, apparently, falling for a billionaire…)
It also looks like a new group of people is going to realize at Happy Valley what our dearly departed Gordo learned the hard way when he was on the moon. Namely, being so far away from your family is not always all it’s cracked up to be — regardless of how important the mission is or how just…cool the idea of spending time in space is. As you’ll see in the trailer below, one character mentions being “powerless up here,” while another talks about how being “a million miles from [his] family, this isn’t what it was supposed to be.”
And speaking of being far away…Margo may not be a million miles away, but she is very far away. It probably goes without saying that well and truly hope she’ll be able to find a way to come back home. If she does, we can not wait to see everyone’s reactions. On the other hand, if she doesn’t, we can’t wait to cry.
Oh, whatever. Let’s be real: We can’t wait for For All Mankind to give us a series of good cries. Period.
Watch the For All Mankind Season 4 trailer here
The new season premieres on Friday, November 10, with new episodes streaming weekly on Apple TV+. We can’t wait to enjoy the ride when the series “rockets into the new millennium,” as the press release put it.
What are you looking forward to the most for For All Mankind Season 4? Leave us a comment!
