Apple Launches ‘For All Mankind’ Companion Podcast

Apple is set to blast off into the companion podcast world with an audio series following its drama For All Mankind.

The tech company is launching For All Mankind: The Official Podcast – the first companion podcast of an Apple TV+ show. It comes ahead of the launch of the second season of the Ronald D. Moore drama on February 19. Deadline also revealed that the show had been renewed for a third season.

Krys Marshall, who plays Commander Danielle Poole in the series, will host the show, which will see her discuss what really goes down beyond our atmosphere and include interviews with guests from the series, space experts, and former astronauts — plus never-before-heard audio that shows how astronauts achieve the impossible.

The podcast is produced in partnership with At Will Media, which produces podcasts including Bill Clinton’s Why Am I Telling You This?

It comes as Apple is moving tentatively into the original audio space as it looks to compete with a slew of rivals such as Spotify.

For All Mankind explores what would have happened if the global space race had never ended. The series presents an aspirational world where NASA astronauts, engineers and their families find themselves in the center of extraordinary events seen through the prism of an alternate history timeline — a world in which the USSR beats the US to the moon.

Season 2 picks up a decade later in 1983. It’s the height of the Cold War, and tensions between the United States and the USSR are at their peak. Ronald Reagan is president, and the greater ambitions of science and space exploration are at threat of being squandered as the Americans and Soviets go head-to-head to control sites rich in resources on the moon. The Department of Defense has moved into Mission Control, and the militarization of NASA becomes central to several characters’ stories: Some fight it, some use it as an opportunity to advance their own interests, and some find themselves at the height of a conflict that may lead to nuclear war.

For All Mankind stars Joel Kinnaman, Michael Dorman, Sarah Jones, Shantel VanSanten, Wrenn Schmidt, Jodi Balfour, Krys Marshall and Sonya Walger.

The series was created by Moore, and Ben Nedivi & Matt Wolpert. The three executive produce alongside Golden Maril Davis of Tall Ship Productions. For All Mankind is produced by Sony Pictures Television.