For All Mankind's Mars Colony Echoes Deep Space Nine In Apple TV's Sci-Fi Series

Published Apr 6, 2026, 8:00 AM EDT

The race to be the first humans on Mars was at the heart of For All Mankind season 3, set in the 1990s. After NASA, the Soviet Union, and Helios Aerospace competed, then cooperated to establish a Mars colony, Happy Valley expanded in For All Mankind season 4. The growing Mars base now also included sections controlled by the North Koreans, while Helios employees griped about their dangerous labor for little pay.

Following Helios' heist of the Goldilocks asteroid, For All Mankind season 5 picks up in 2012, with Happy Valley now bigger than ever. Housing five thousand residents, including the undocumented dubbed 'Craters,' Happy Valley is the equivalent of a bustling small town. Mars is now also a place of community and commerce, and the people of Happy Valley congregate in a central hub reminiscent of Deep Space Nine.

For All Mankind’s Mars Colony Has Its Own Deep Space Nine Promenade

Star Trek fans can't help but recognize how much Happy Valley's mall in For All Mankind season 5 resembles Deep Space Nine's famed promenade. Happy Valley's central hub is a multi-level mall of shops and restaurants, complete with Starbucks and Domino's Pizza. There's even a souvenir stand for visitors to pick up reminders of their trek to the Red Planet.

Ilya Breshov (Dimiter M. Marinov) owned an illegal speakeasy and smuggling operation in For All Mankind season 4, but a decade later, Ilya has gone legit. Breshov, Miles Dale (Toby Kebbell) and Amanda Dale (Shannon Lucio) co-own Ilya's Bar and Restaurant, which feels like For All Mankind's version of Quark's (Armin Shimerman) Bar in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Happy Valley's promenade evokes the 24th century space station's central hub. Deep Space Nine's promenade was a multi-level set comprised of various businesses, and Happy Valley's mall is the same. It's no wonder, considering For All Mankind's Star Trek pedigree, including executive producer and series creator Ronald D. Moore, and Michael and Denise Okuda as technical advisors.

Deep Space Nine was a new frontier for Star Trek. Instead of boldly exploring the cosmos, DS9 was a destination visited by countless denizens of the galaxy. In For All Mankind, Mars' growing population is overseen by a governor from the Soviet Union, Leonid "Lenya" Polivanov (Costa Ronin).

Creating its own Deep Space Nine-like promenade is a logical step for Happy Valley that deepens For All Mankind's Star Trek connection.

Only 3 Star Trek Shows Exist In For All Mankind’s Alternate Reality (So Far)

Many Star Trek fans regard For All Mankind as an ersatz prequel to Star Trek. Through diehard Trekkie Commander Danielle Poole (Krys Marshal), For All Mankind season 4 finally answered whether Star Trek exists in its alternate reality, and the answer was a genuine surprise.

Confirmed by Ronald D. Moore in 2024, only three Star Trek series and one movie have been made in For All Mankind as of 2003: Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: Phase II, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the feature film Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. Star Trek skipped The Motion Picture entirely and made Wrath of Khan its first theatrical movie, according to Ron Moore.

By For All Mankind season 5's 2012 timeframe, it's possible another Star Trek TV show, possibly even Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, was produced, as well as perhaps more Star Trek movies. However, with the real-life excitement and controversies of the space race and people living on Mars, the appetite for Star Trek's fantasy in For All Mankind's universe isn't as strong as it is in the real world.

It wouldn't be a great surprise if Star Trek: Deep Space Nine never came to be in For All Mankind's alternate reality. After all, Happy Valley is Deep Space Nine come to life, with its own bustling promenade, and Ilya's Bar and Restaurant standing in for Quark's Bar, Grill, Gaming House, and Holosuite Arcade.