5 TV Shows To Watch If You Like For All Mankind

Since 2019, the Apple TV original series "For All Mankind" has been blowing audiences away with its innovative story, exceptional performances, and alternate-history concept that keeps viewers hooked. Created by Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi, "For All Mankind" imagines a different world than our own; specifically, a world where the "space race" between the Soviet Union and the United States went quite differently. In the world of "For All Mankind," the Soviet Union "won" that race initially — by the Soviet Union making it to the moon before the United States in this universe — only for it to go on in perpetuity as the two countries keep trying to outdo each other.

Across five seasons so far — with a sixth and final season confirmed and a spin-off called "Star City" — "For All Mankind" has kept audiences fully captivated. So what shows should you check out if you've already seen every available episode of "For All Mankind" multiple times? The fun thing about this particular series is that it's not just a space drama, it's a full revisionist history ... and presents a world that's similar yet intriguingly different from our own. What that means is there's a truly wide variety of TV shows that'll pair perfectly with a full-series watch of "For All Mankind." From other shows about space exploration to other stories about how history could have gone differently, here are five shows you should check out if you love "For All Mankind," which wrapped up its fifth season on May 29, 2026.

Adapted for the small screen by showrunners Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby — using the novel series by James S.A. Corey as the source material — SyFy's series "The Expanse" definitely scratches the sci-fi, space exploration itch in a similar way to "For All Mankind." This futuristic series also serves as a nice alternate history because it's set in a world where humans are able to colonize the entirety of the solar system. When the series kicks off, the United Nations is desperately trying to intervene to prevent a war between the organization and the planet Mars — an effort spearheaded by UN deputy undersecretary Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) — while a detective who lives on the moon Ceres, Josephus "Joe" Miller (Thomas Jane), searches for a missing woman.

Amidst this backdrop, we also catch up with the show's third lead, James Holden (Steven Strait), an officer who survives an attack on his ship and begins a new community with other survivors aboard a gunship called the Tachi, which they rechristen the Rociante. "The Expanse" then follows these characters as they journey throughout the solar system, so if you love alternate history and space, you're in luck ... because this show ran for a solid six seasons between 2015 and 2022.

Like "The Expanse," the Apple TV original series "Dark Matter" is adapted from a literary work — this time, it's Blake Crouch's enthralling 2016 sci-fi novel of the same name — but instead of taking place in space, "Dark Matter" plays with time, dimensions, and purpose. When physicist Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton) is mysteriously kidnapped in his hometown of Chicago, he leaves an object known only as "the cube" and discovers that he's in an alternate reality, separated from his wife Daniela (Jennifer Connelly) and son Charlie (Oakes Fegley). Not only that, but Jason learns there's a different Jason, known as Jason #2, who's planning to essentially steal his family.

With the help of Jason #2's girlfriend Amanda Lucas (Alice Braga), the "original" Jason desperately tries to return to his correct dimension and his family, and without getting into any major spoilers, the results of his attempts are as baffling as they are thrilling. "Dark Matter" excelled throughout its first season, which premiered in 2024, and if you're looking for an intense sci-fi drama anchored by excellent performances from Edgerton, Connelly, Braga, and "Westworld" star Jimmi Simpson, you'll definitely want to check this one out.

Anchored by a truly phenomenal central performance from Rebecca Ferguson, who's played everything from Lady Jessica in Denis Villenueve's "Dune" films to a controversial and real British queen, "Silo" is one of Apple TV's most exciting shows. "Silo," which is also based a series of novels — specifically, Hugh Howey's "Silo" trilogy comprised of "Wool," "Shift," and "Dust," which were released between 2011 and 2013 — takes place in a world where people must dwell in a humongous underground silo in order to life safely. Ferguson leads the ensemble cast, which includes Rashida Jones, David Oyelowo, Common, Harriet Walter, Steve Zahn, and Tim Robbins, just to name a few, as Juliette Nichols, an engineer who lives in the bowels of the silo.

Because the silo is genuinely massive — we we're kidding about "humongous," considering the thing is made up of 144 distinct levels — Juliette grows curious about the truth behind the structure, and what she discovers will send you reeling. "Silo" is creative, wonderfully crafted and acted, and feels like a truly immersive experience ... which is both scary and thrilling.

"The Man in the High Castle" doesn't involve space at all, but it does present an intriguing and disturbing alternate history: what if the Nazi forces won World War II? What would the world look like now? Based on Philip K. Dick's 1962 novel of the same name, "The Man in the High Castle" ran from 2015 to 2019 and tells a truly unsettling tale of what could have happened had the Axis powers reigned supreme in the Second World War. Not only have those powers bombed Washington D.C. in this timeline, but but president-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt was also assassinated in 1946; essentially, the Axis alliance, led by Nazi Germany, isn't just allowed to survive but thrive and control Allied countries.

This intense, dark story is anchored by videos created by the titular Man in the High Castle, who presents "alternate histories" that look a lot more like our own (namely, one where the Allied forces won). With performers like Alexa Davalos (as the rebellious Juliana Crain), Luke Kleintank (as Joe Blake, a double agent pretending to work for American forces), and Rufus Sewell (as high-ranking SS leader John Smith), "The Man in the High Castle" is absolutely worth a watch, especially if you want a really, really dark alternate history.

Helmed by showrunner Patrick Somerville and adapted from Emily St. John Mandel's best-selling 2014 novel, "Station Eleven" is a phenomenal HBO Max drama that, after the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, hits a little too close to home. In this alternate history (which, like "The Man in the High Castle," does not concern space travel except when it comes to the titular comic book set in the far reaches of space), a mysterious but deadly pandemic wiped out a huge part of the population, leaving stragglers to try and survive in the desolate wilderness. Most of the show centers around Kirsten Raymond (a stunning Mackenzie Davis), a survivor of the strange plague who crosses what was once the United States with a traveling theater troupe aptly named the Traveling Symphony. 

We also, throughout the ten-episode run of "Station Eleven," flash back to the beginning of the pandemic and get acquainted with famous actor Arthur Leander (Gael García Bernal) and his wife Miranda (Danielle Deadwyler), who wrote the in-universe "Station Eleven" comic and was also frequently at odds with her unfaithful husband. With Himesh Patel, Caitlin FitzGerald, David Cross, and Enrico Colantoni in supporting roles, "Station Eleven" is genuinely wonderful, despite the dark subject matter.

As for "For All Mankind," it's streaming on Apple TV now.