With For All Mankind Season 2 now streaming on AppleTV+, I recently spoke with Shantel Vansanten about playing Karen Baldwin on the fantastic series. During the interview, she talked about what fans can expect in the second season, how Karen’s storyline doesn’t slow down, why she likes to watch the episodes as they stream instead of in advance, her favorite storyline that’s not her own, what it’s really like filming the eating and drinking scenes, and more. In addition, with Vansanten having been on the first two seasons of The Boys, I got showrunner Eric Kripke to send in a fun question and we also talked about whether she will make on appearance on The Boys Season 3.
If you aren’t familiar with For All Mankind, it takes place in an alternate history where the global space race of the 1960’s never ended. In this alt timeline, the Soviet Union landed on the Moon first, and we follow NASA astronauts, engineers and their families as they try and catch up with the Russians while also dealing with the changing times. Loaded with fantastic performances, incredible production design, and a detailed depiction of the space race, For All Mankind is one of my favorite series and I absolutely recommend checking it out.
In For All Mankind Season 2, it’s now a decade later and we’re in the middle of the Cold War between the United States and the USSR. Tensions are high between both countries as each side tries to gain a foothold on the moon and control the areas rich in resources. At the same time, the Department of Defense has militarized parts of NASA and become central to several characters' stories.
For All Mankind was created by Ronald D. Moore and Ben Nedivi & Matt Wolpert and also Joel Kinnaman, Michael Dorman, Sarah Jones, Wrenn Schmidt, Jodi Balfour, Krys Marshall, and Sonya Walger. New cast members this season include Cynthy Wu as an astronaut’s daughter; Coral Peña as adult Aleida Rosales (who we met in Season 1) and Casey W. Johnson as Danny Stevens, the older son of astronauts Gordo (Dorman) and Tracy (Jones).
Check out what he had to say in the player above and below is an exact list of what we talked about. The ten episode second season is now streaming on Apple TV+ with a new episode every Friday.
Shantel Vansanten:
- Why she wants to watch the episodes as they stream with the audience.
- Eric Kripke asks "Hey Shantel, long time fan, first time caller. I'm a HUGE fan of yours, you're an amazing actor, and yet, I keep killing you in my shows. What's my sickness?"
- Is she in The Boys Season 3?
- What can she say about Season 2?
- What is it like filming the scenes where her character will be eating and drinking a lot?
- How much was she told about the arc of her character in advance and how much is it script by script?
- What is her favorite storyline that’s not her own?
