For All Mankind: Season Two Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

For All Mankind: Season Two Blu-ray Movie Review

They're not Russian with these things, are they?

Reviewed by Randy Miller III March 6, 2026

In an alternate timeline, Sony Pictures released each season of the Apple TV+ original series For All Mankind (2019- ) on Blu-ray and 4K soon after their streaming debuts, drawing in even more new viewers every year while ultimately building to its forthcoming fifth season later this month. Instead, like the Americans in this show's alternate timeline, they've got to play catch up: this second season, which first debuted all the way back in 2021, finally earned a Blu-ray release almost three years after the first one, which incidentally arrived on disc shortly after its fourth season dropped. While this is indeed a frustrating home video release strategy (and one with no real signs of a 4K campaign, which is certainly disappointing), it at least suggests that Sony will continue producing them... eventually.

Reviewer Ken Brown outlines the general premise of For All Mankind in his S1 review linked above, which begins when the USSR wins 1969's race to the moon. This real-world event -- whose mammoth significance might be partially lost on anyone born after that decade -- was a huge turning point in world history, so changing it effectively alters the late 20th century's timeline in surprising ways. Mixing in these fun alt-history diversions (some trivial, others massive) with irresistible sci-fi elements, terrific production design, ace casting, and well-written drama, For All Mankind immediately built itself a fierce following during the show's slow-burn but satisfying debut season in 2019. And much like its "ripple effect" timeline where historical changes grow even larger as the series progresses, For All Mankind gained substantial momentum during a second season that outclasses the first in almost every conceivable category.

Beginning with the solid opener "Every Little Thing", Season 2 ushers its story and characters into the early 1980s, roughly a decade after the events of the first season, where the once-short "Space Race" has expanded far beyond the Moon landing. The once-empty rock is now viewed as more of a strategic battleground, as both NASA and the Soviet space program have established permanent bases on the lunar surface as of 1983. The American establishment, named "Jamestown", has grown from humble origins into a larger outpost that supports a variety of scientists, engineers, and astronauts who conduct research while also serving as a military presence. In short, the Cold War is now on the Moon and, true to form, the U.S. government has secretly authorized the arming of astronauts. Changes are afoot.

Likewise, many of For All Mankind's returning characters have changed as well. Astronaut Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman, always in fine form) is now commander of the Jamestown base, and his challenges are twofold: not only is he tasked with simply surviving, he's the new leader of a crew that's under intense scrutiny and geopolitical pressure. Meanwhile, another former Astronaut and one of several "Nixon's Women" members Ellen Wilson (Jodi Balfour) enjoys professional growth via a mid-season administrative promotion within NASA, where she attempts to keep things running smoothly during a increasingly militarized era of space exploration. Engineer Margo Madison (Wrenn Schmidt) works through a more internal struggle, establishing and maintaining an increasingly personal relationship with Soviet engineer Sergei Nickulov (Piotr Adamczyk) which leads to blackmail and decisions about where her loyalty lies. Similarly, Ed Baldwin's best friend and newly-divorced engineer Gordo Stevens (Michael Dorman) battles personal demons and his fading career prospects but soon returns to space in a mission that becomes crucial to Jamestown' survival.

That's just scratching the surface of Season 2's dense and increasingly engaging story arcs that build towards the unforgettable finale "The Grey", detailing a a dramatic crisis that involves a damaged lunar reactor and a desperate mission to save the Jamestown base. While it maintains fundamental similarities to the first season's solid run, which likewise creatively blended personal drama with high-stakes geopolitical conflict, S2 tends to fire on all cylinders more consistently and marks an early high bar for a series soon entering its fifth year. While it'll be awhile before Sony's Blu-ray release strategy catches up with the show's streaming schedule, this "new" Season 2 set follows an almost exact template to the first with 10 episodes generously spread across four dual-layered discs, which gives them plenty of room to breathe while maintaining A/V integrity. And hey, we even get a bonus feature this time around.

Episode List: "Every Little Thing", "The Bleeding Edge", "Rules of Engagement", "Pathfinder", "The Weight", "Best Laid Plans", "Don't Be Cruel", "And Here's To You", "Triage", and "The Grey".

For All Mankind: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Ken Brown gave For All Mankind near-perfect marks for video quality in his review of the first season, and Season 2's similar visual style and "bit rate footprint" (i.e., 10 episodes on four dual-layered discs) mean that most if not all of his remarks also apply here. Indeed, For All Mankind is a handsomely-shot series that often approaches a cinematic scope and this translates nicely to Sony's capable 1080p transfers, which likewise look very strong within format boundaries with excellent fine detail, color, and a stable image that remains consistently good from start to finish. Only the lack of a UHD option spoils the party but, under the circumstances, the dependable nature of these Blu-rays likely allows them to stand toe-to-toe with 4K streams on Apple TV+ and possibly even exceed them in certain respects. Compression is excellent here with no apparent artifacts or banding, far outpacing the shoddy encoding on Severance.

Please note that, much like the first season, Sony's Blu-ray set maintains For All Mankind's 2.00:1 aspect ratio as it appears on Apple TV+. I've always felt that this framing looks a little snug and occasionally trims off small details that would make for more attractive 1.78:1 compositions but, as your annoying boss might say, "it is what it is".

For All Mankind: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Likewise, For All Mankind's audio footprint maintains the standard set by the first season, so please see Ken Brown's review linked above for comments that apply here as well. In short, it's a nicely-mixed production that's typically more intimate in its approach but opens up considerably at key moments, and the DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mixes do a good job of handling everything accordingly. I'm still going to dock it a half-point since For All Mankind is presented in Dolby Atmos on Apple TV+, which even Blu-ray is more than capable of including but it's again not offered here. That's bad news for Atmos enthusiasts, but luckily these lossless surround tracks get us most of the way there.

Optional subtitles, including English (SDH), are included during all 10 episodes.

For All Mankind: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This four-disc set ships in a slightly thicker-than-average keepcase with attractive cover art and a matching slipcover. The case includes two hubs with stacked discs, which is not ideal but probably won't lead to any damage if you treat them with care. The menu interface (screenshot #30) follows Sony's usual template and shows all ten episodes on each disc's selection screen, but choosing one that's not present will prompt you to insert a different disc.

As for the on-disc extras, this set actually includes one unlike the first season, and it can be found on Disc 4.

• Audio Commentary - This lone audio commentary runs over episode #10, the 76-minute season finale "The Grey", and features showrunners Ben Nedivi and Matt Wolpert. The pair serves up an interesting and engaging track to complement one of the season's best episodes, shedding a bit of light on how the writers and creative team crafted this unusually insulated episode on the Jamestown base while tying up a few dangling threads from earlier in the season. Other topics are handled as well, such as character dynamics and production details, which makes this a well-rounded track that, quite frankly, we should have gotten a lot more of here.

For All Mankind: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi's dramatic sci-fi show For All Mankind is one of only a few reasons to subscribe to Apple TV+, and this acclaimed series will be entering its fifth season in just a few weeks. (A spin-off, Star City, will also be debuting in May.) But Sony's Blu-ray releases are falling further and further behind, as this Season 2 set finally delivers 10 episodes that debuted all the way back in 2021. Here's hoping they pick up speed in the months to come, as For All Mankind's projected seven-season run means that we might actually be on Mars before we get the whole series on disc. For now, though, the strength of this season certainly makes it worth picking up.