Trivia / For All Mankind

• Adored by the Network: Even beyond the second season renewal Apple TV+ gave to its entire initial slate shortly after launch, this one got a third season approved a month before the second even started. Season 4 meanwhile was publicly confirmed during San Diego Comic Con in the middle of the run of Season 3.
• The Danza: Real-life astronaut (and show technical advisor) Garrett Reisman's appearance as the commander of Space Shuttle Columbia in season 2's "The Bleeding Edge" is an example of this and not As Himself despite the character having the exact same name (according to the script and a mission patch for Columbia) because the scene takes place in 1983 and the real-life Garrett Reisman was 15 years old at the time.
• Bloopers
  • When Ellen is shown in space on Apollo 24, she has her hair in a low ponytail that hangs down toward her back rather than floating, revealing that she shot her scenes sitting upright in her seat on the CSM set.
  • Despite being established that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was killed in the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing in the alternate universe, a Freeze-Frame Bonus at the beginning of the fourth season has Thatcher still seen alive and attending the Hong Kong handover ceremony in 1997.
• Fake American: Several of the main American characters are played by non-American actors.
  • Ed Baldwin is played by Joel Kinnaman (Sweden, though born to an American father).
  • Gordo Stevens is played by Michael Dorman (New Zealand).
  • Ellen Wilson is played by Jodi Balfour (South Africa).
  • Molly Cobb is played by Sonya Walger (United Kingdom).
• Fake Guest Star/Promotion to Opening Titles: Despite Molly and Danielle being very important characters in season 1, neither Sonya Walger nor Krys Marshall made it into the opening credits until season 2.
• Fake Nationality:
  • German-born Wernher von Braun is played by Colm Feore (American-born Canadian).
  • Aleida Rosales is Mexican and is played starting in the second season by Coral Peña, who was born in the Dominican Republic.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor: Ellen Wilson is a lesbian. In 2021, her actress, Jodi Balfour, came out as queer.
• Recycled Script: What happens to Ed's son in "Hi Bob" sounds similar to the first episode of Caprica. Just replace Shane with Zoe Graystone, and a road accident with a terrorist attack, and it's practically the same. And given both of those particular episodes were written by Ronald D. Moore, does it seem more than a coincidence?!
• Reality Subtext:
  • Gordo Stevens is a clear Expy of astronaut Leroy Gordon "Gordo" Cooper. His wife, Tracy Stevens, is an expy of Cooper's wife, Trudy. Trudy Cooper was actually the only one of the Mercury Seven's wives who was, herself, a licensed pilot. And Gordo Cooper was also involved in an affair; Trudy had left him over it before his selection to the Mercury Seven, and had to be convinced to join him "for the adventure" in order to keep up appearances. In real life, they divorced when Gordo left NASA in 1970.^note That's not to say there weren't other astronauts who had affairs; in fact, Group 3 astronaut Donn Eisele was grounded when his affair went public. It's just important context for the characters of Gordo and Tracy Stevens. In an in-universe biographical film about the Stevenses, Gordo is played by Dennis Quaid, who played Gordo Cooper in The Right Stuff.
  • The Soviet space program really intended for Alexei Leonov to be their choice to first set foot on the moon.
  • Apollo-Soyuz was in real life the final Apollo flight, and can be counted as Apollo 22, making the missions in the latter half of season 1 the follow on. Furthermore, it’s considered the end of the space race in our timeline.
    • Ed Baldwin is based on Thomas Stafford, commander of Apollo 10. He commanded the US end of Apollo-Soyuz, while Alexi Leonov commanded the Soviet end. Deke Slayton also had his one and only spaceflight on Apollo-Soyuz.
  • In real life, Deke Slayton passed away in 1993 due to brain tumor. Gene Kranz is still very much alive.
  • Thomas O. Paine actually passed away from cancer in 1992.
  • Krys Marshall stated that she was uncomfortable with portraying Danielle as bigoted towards Will Tyler when he comes out as gay in "New Eden," as Krys is pansexual. However, she also stated that it was important because it showed that Danielle is human and flawed.