The Expanse's Spiritual Successor Has 92% Rotten Tomatoes And About To Come Back For Season 5

Since The Expanse season 6 ended in early 2022, fans of the space opera may still be searching for another show that will scratch that same itch, but it’s already been running since 2019 and still has a rich future ahead. Although The Expanse season 6 cast wrapped up the story nicely, the James S.A. Corey books continued beyond the events of the adaptation’s finale. However, not everyone is all that into reading, so a replacement TV show can often be the same way to fill that void. Thankfully, Apple TV+ already has that base covered.

Those who enjoyed The Expanse are also highly likely to like Apple TV+’s For All Mankind. There are currently four seasons of the latter available to stream, and For All Mankind season 5 is expected at some point in 2025. The story’s format requires a large ensemble cast, just like The Expanse, and humanity’s life in the solar system is at the heart of both sagas. That being said, the shows aren’t identical, but the differences are far from bad. Instead, it’s just more to enjoy for the shows’ shared fan bases.

Apple TV+’s For All Mankind Shares Many Similarities With The Expanse

For All Mankind feels very much like a prequel to The Expanse

For All Mankind and The Expanse are both space operas, but neither in the traditional sense. Spacefaring sci-fi sagas are often filled with tropes of the genre, such as a vast array of alien life, lightspeed travel, futuristic weaponry, and more. The Expanse perhaps takes things a little further into the realm of fiction than For All Mankind does, but they’re both still incredibly grounded. Journeying from planet to planet is a time-consuming endeavor in both shows, and the challenges of life away from the human homeworld are never ignored.

The biggest similarity only really crystallizes at the end of For All Mankind season 4. As in The Expanse, For All Mankind‘s colony on Mars is still seen as secondary to the one on the blue and green ball, making this parallel seem even more salient. However, For All Mankind has also started to tease the existence of its version of The Expanse‘s Belters. With the implied emergence of the separate sects of humanity, For All Mankind has started to feel more and more like an unofficial prequel to The Expanse.

What Separates For All Mankind From The Expanse

Apple TV+’s creative sci-fi show sets itself apart

When viewed from a different perspective, For All Mankind could seem almost nothing like The Expanse. For starters, The Expanse‘s timeline is paced pretty consistently throughout. Inversely, For All Mankind features a time jump of roughly ten years at the end of every season. Starting in 1969 with an alternate winner of the Space Race, For All Mankind journeys through the decades and features a revolving door of cast members – although some are aged with makeup to account for their extended runs.

The Expanse Ignored One Of The Oldest Sci-Fi Tropes (& It Was Much Better For It)

The Expanse tends to avoid certain sci-fi tropes. However, there’s one in particular that has a huge impact on the show’s narrative at large.

The Expanse focuses on humanity’s existence around three centuries in the future, after space travel has been mastered as much as is realistically possible. On the other hand, For All Mankind is chronicling that journey, but it does make it strangely easy to connect the two shows in a way that makes sense. Additionally, For All Mankind is more of an alt-history/political thriller that just so happens to be partially set in space. The Expanse, on the other hand, gradually becomes far more fantastical and high-concept with its scavenged alien tech and extraterrestrial infections.

For All Mankind Has A Huge Advantage Over The Expanse

For All Mankind spoilers are easier to avoid

Fans of The Expanse who were watching as the original episodes aired had to be very careful when reading about the show online. The source material on which the adaptation is based is also incredibly popular. So, it was possible to work out where the story was heading by consulting the books. Because of this, there was a great deal of forum-dodging and scrolling past potential spoilers between episodes. With James S.A. Corey heavily involved in the live-action adaptation, the events remained largely the same in both versions.

“James S.A. Corey” is a pen name for two authors who wrote the books as a team: Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck.

For All Mankind doesn’t have this same issue. The Apple TV+ show is an original concept, and the only way to find out what happens is by watching the show when it’s released. Of course, this doesn’t mean it’s impossible to find spoilers online. Information about the episodes is available on various sites pretty much immediately after they air, but they’re at least a little easier to avoid. Plus, they don’t spoil storylines from far in the plot’s future if watching upon release. This doesn’t necessarily make For All Mankind better than The Expanse, but it is a notable upside.