For All Mankind, now in its fourth season, explores an alternate reality that might have arisen if Russia had beaten the United States to the moon. For Toby Kebbell, who plays oil rig worker-turned Martian mechanic Miles Dale, the series is an exploration of what it’s like to be a renegade.
Kebbell joins the cast for season 4, which sees humanity colonizing Mars, mining an asteroid, and searching for signs of life beyond planet Earth. We sat down with Kebbell to talk about what it’s like to join the cast of an epic story in progress.
“It felt nerve-wracking,” Kebbell told us. “The writing is superb and intimidating in its own right. I walked onto a space station in Mars and I could hear the other actors doing a scene, and I was asked to be quiet and wait for the director. I sat and waited, and thought, they’re killing it. That scene’s brilliant. You know, nerve-wracking. They’re already shooting, they’re already in their fourth season, and I’m coming in, and I have to make a place for myself. But it was so welcoming, so kind, from the craft services and production assistants all the way up to the executive producers.”
Like Kebbell, Miles is a newcomer to the high profile world of space exploration, as a working class mechanic hoping to earn a living off planet. “It was just a joy,” Kebbell says of stepping into Miles’ character. “It was so smart and so joyful. It sets up exactly what [the world of For All Mankind] is: a class system.”
What is it like to pretend you’re on Mars? For Kebbell, the experience started to feel a little too real. “To get into that mindset [of being on Mars] was actually incredibly easy,” he says. “You’ve got these amazing set decorators, set builders, on these beautiful stages, and it was claustrophobic. It’s actually more claustrophobic than it displays [in the finished episodes]. When you’re watching, you’re like, ‘oh, that corridor’s cool!’ But after eight, 10, 12 hours on set, you start to get this stir-crazy feeling … I’m slightly deluded, but I feel like I’ve been to Mars. It was so confined and so tight.”
Check out our full interview below! For All Mankind season 4 is currently streaming on Apple TV+.
(featured image: Apple TV+)
