For All Mankind has never shied away from politics. After all, the whole premise of the series is based on an ‘alternate history’ that examines what might have happened if the space race never ended. Each season takes place a decade apart from each other, with season 1 set in the 1970s (hot on the heels of the Soviets’ first hard moon landing in 1969), season 2 in the 1980s, and season 3 in the 1990s.
It’s already been confirmed that the fourth season of For All Mankind will continue this tradition and be set in the ‘2000s, but ahead of the For All Mankind season 4 release date in November, fans are already speculating about where one of the best TV series of recent years will go next.
Over on the For All Mankind subreddit, one eagle-eyed fan noticed a striking detail about one of the Apple TV show‘s episode titles for season 4 — namely, that the season 4 finale looks set to be titled Perestroika.
“This is an extreme oversimplification but essentially Perestroika was a Gorbachev programe which aimed at restructuring the USSR’s economy and politics, among various other things,” they explained. “It was the beginning of the end of the USSR, so maybe we could indeed see the FAM universe USSR follow in the footsteps of its real world counterpart 15-20 years later.”
While the title undoubtedly holds thematic significance for the events of season 4, other Redditors were divided over whether one of the best sci-fi series would go down this controversial, real-world-historical route.
“What’s the point in going with an ‘actually the USSR survives to the 2000s’ if you’re then gonna replay the events of its collapse anyways?” another Reddit user asked. “Much more interesting to keep the USSR rolling and try to depict how it adapts to a continually changing world.”
Still, the original commenter stuck to their theory, pointing out that “the show has done a good job of showing the USSR was struggling to keep up with the USA in seasons 2 and 3. So it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume their space programe has begun to drain their resources even further.”
They also added that just because the plot takes inspiration from a real-life policy, that doesn’t mean the show will replay its failure. “Maybe it’s a collapse a la real-world USSR, or maybe Perestroika and Glasnost will be a success in FAM universe, and the Soviets manage to keep their Union together by pivoting away from the space race,” the commenter wrote.
At least we won’t have to wait too long to find out, but whatever happens, we’re sure the series will do the subject justice.
With its eclectic blend of fact and fiction, here’s why we think For All Mankind is the natural successor to Star Trek. For more sci-fi adventures, be sure to check out our list to the best science fiction movies and guides to other exciting sci-fi projects like Avatar 3, the Rebel Moon release date, and the new Star Wars movies.