Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for For All Mankind Season 5, Episode 3.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n For five seasons, Joel Kinnaman<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s Ed Baldwin has been a constant on Apple TV\u2019s masterpiece sci-fi<\/strong><\/a> series For All Mankind<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. Between NASA politics and interplanetary crises, he\u2019s become a stalwart figure, embodying the spirit of progress. That\u2019s why his passing in Season 5, Episode 3 presents an important turning point for the show, which comes not as a shock, but a heartbreaking farewell.<\/p>\n As Season 5 stays the course for the sixth and final season<\/strong><\/a>, the new generation is taking its turn in the spotlight, centering Ed\u2019s grandson Alex (Sean Kaufman<\/strong>) at the forefront of the fight for Happy Valley\u2019s future.<\/p>\n Speaking with Collider\u2019s Steve Weintraub<\/strong><\/a>, co-creators Ben Nedivi<\/strong> and Matt Wolpert<\/strong><\/a> discuss why they chose to end Ed\u2019s journey midseason and reveal how far back this decision was made. They also discuss Kinnaman\u2019s emotional final day on set, bringing back Michael Dorman and Shantel VanSanten, and how Ed\u2019s presence continues to be felt “in almost every episode, in almost every way.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n COLLIDER: Fans had a feeling Ed’s journey would end in Season 5, and when you started Episode 1 by saying he has health issues, it was confirmed. Why did you decide to end his journey in Episode 3, and after rescuing Lee, was it almost something else?<\/strong><\/p>\n BEN NEDIVI: Was it almost something else? What does that mean?<\/p>\n Did you think maybe he’ll make it six episodes?<\/strong><\/p>\n NEDIVI: No, we knew before the season started. In fact, I think we knew early, like probably Season 4, that this is where we’re going. We didn’t know exactly what episode or where, but I think in our conversations with Joel [Kinnaman], we felt like it would happen somewhere in the middle of the season, rather than at the end of the season. One, because I think our audience is almost expecting, now, for these things to happen in the finale, so there’s that element of don’t do the expected.<\/p>\n On the other side, I think in working on Season 5, what we realized more and more with this younger generation, especially Ed’s grandson Alex, is that it gave power to that storyline of his and of his mother’s, for Ed’s passing to inform it and to inform the second half of the season, and it does that. So even after he dies, his presence is felt in almost every episode, in almost every way.<\/p>\n It was definitely not an easy decision, because Ed Baldwin is as close to our hearts as any character has been on this show. And Joel Kinnaman, this show does not happen if Joel Kinnaman didn’t sign on to it. It would not have gotten greenlit. So, we owe him everything. This was a decision that we all made together. It’s something that he kind of accepted and embraced, as well. And like everything else he’s done on this show, he did it like a champ. I mean, he pulled this off. I thought it was his best season. No one else, I think, could have played this role the way he did.<\/p>\n He’s fantastic.<\/strong><\/p>\n Summary<\/h3>\n
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\n Ed Baldwin’s Presence Is Still Felt in “Almost Every Episode”
\n <\/h2>\n\n “This show does not happen if Joel Kinnaman didn’t sign on to it.”
\n <\/h3>\n![\"Four](\"https:\/\/static0.colliderimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/severance1.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=140&h=98&dpr=2\"\/)
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