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Warning: This story contains major spoilers from For All Mankind‘s Season 3 finale — proceed at your own peril
Another For All Mankind season has ended in tragedy.
The Apple TV+ drama’s Season 3 finale served as a farewell for original cast member Shantel VanSanten, whose character, Karen Baldwin, perished in a domestic terrorist attack engineered by Jimmy’s conspiracy theorist cronies. The bomb blast at Johnson Space Center also claimed the life of Sonya Walger’s Molly Cobb, who had been sidelined for much of Season 3 following her NASA firing in Episode 2.
For co-showrunners Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi, the decision to kill off VanSanten — whom the former describes as “the heart and soul of our For All Mankind family” — was particularly wrenching.
“The arc of Karen Baldwin, really more than any other character on the show, is such an epic arc, from astronaut’s wife to a small businesswoman to a sort of titan of space industry,” notes Wolpert. “But in terms of [her death], we really wanted that bombing to have a dramatic, emotional component. And Karen’s death felt like the best way to bring that about… To have her [life] unceremoniously cut short heightens the tragedy.”
Regarding the death of Walger’s Molly, the EPs saw an opportunity to give the exiled NASA icon an honorable, heroic discharge. “The moment of her walking down the hallway and disappearing into the smoke and sacrificing herself to save other people… felt like the perfect way to capture Molly’s death,” explains Nedivi. “And [renaming Johnson Space Center] after her [in the flash-forward] felt like a fitting tribute to someone who had singlehandedly changed the program.”
However, it’s Karen’s death — and VanSanten’s subsequent departure — that will arguably come as the bigger shock among fans. It’s for that reason that TVLine rang up the actress to get her take on her alter ego’s demise and more (including, yes, her opinion on a certain polarizing May-December storyline).
TVLINE | How far in advance did you know that Karen was going to die in the finale?
I emailed Matt and Ben around Episode 7 or 8 and I said, “We should talk.” And Ben wrote me back the next day and was like, “You instinctually knew, didn’t you?” And I was like, “I’m dying, right?” And he was like, “Yeah.” And he said they literally made the decision when I sent the email.
TVLINE | What was your reaction?
It’s very bittersweet. We always knew signing on to the show that, with time jumps, the baton would be passed and new characters would come in and take over. It’s this beautiful evolution of life… Last year there was a lot of letting go [for me]. As an artist it’s what we constantly have to do. And I never hear people talk about how hard it is as an artist to let go of something you have put your whole soul into. And I didn’t expect to. This show and Karen snuck up and surprised me… I love our show. And I love the people. And I love Karen. And I love the world we created. I’m heartbroken that I’m gone.
TVLINE | Did you really get a premonition that Karen was going to die in the finale?
I usually do. [Laughs] It wasn’t anything to do with the story. It was an instinct. But I feel like that every season. “Where is there to go? Everybody is going into space!” And then we started this season and all of a sudden Karen’s in space at her hotel and I’m like, “What?!” I never could have envisioned so many different iterations of where my character was and her own evolution. I could come up with a million stories I would still want to tell of Karen, but sometimes loss, as we’ve learned in Episode 1 of our show, propels story and humans forward. And it’s how our show works… This was her swan song. She finally understood who she was as a woman. She was settled. And happy. And living the best version of herself for once.
TVLINE | Are you curious what’s going to happen in Season 4?
I was texting with [co-stars] Krys [Marshall] and Cynthy [Wu] this morning as they’re getting ready to start Season 4. I’m like, “Tell me everything. What are the sets like? What are you wearing? What do you look like as we jump ahead? Tell me!”
TVLINE | You were part of what will likely go down as one of the series’ most polarizing storylines. What did you think of the Danny-Karen-Ed quasi-love triangle? Did you love it? Hate it? Something in between?
I didn’t hate it. I understood it. And that was the most important thing for me — to sit back and understand where Karen’s mind was. And to not judge it, because it was part of her journey… At first it was shocking. [Laughs] I didn’t want it to happen. I don’t think anybody goes into an affair thinking it all the way through. [But] it was a catalyst for Karen to find herself… Of course it’s polarizing. Making huge mistakes and having affairs — those things are really polarizing. And I don’t mind them starting a conversation. And I don’t mind Karen being human. I just didn’t want that choice to live on through everything and color everything in her life. And for her it didn’t. For Danny it has… I was so grateful for the scene between Karen and Jimmy [because] we never really got to understand [Karen]’s honest human perspective. And the show does a really beautiful job with those moments of reckoning and healing, in between the drama and the sci-fi and the Mars. (Additional reporting by Vlada Gelman)
For All Mankind fans, what did you think of the season ender? Grade it below, then hit the comments!
Out of all the shows I watch, this is the one I look forward to the most.
Best thing on AppleTV.
I’m choosing to tie it with Severance.
They definitely saved the best for the last episode, loved the moment the two commanders realised the new guy they found was actually the first guy on Mars and had a chuckle after all they had basically wrestled each other out the space ship. It’s those little moments of humour that really ground the episode. While season has felt a little up and down at times, they really did wrap it up with probably their best episode to date. Can’t wait for next season!
That was a frackin great 90 minutes of TV. They saved the best for last. We sort of knew Karen’s fate once she went after Jimmy. But the real shocker was Margo. Totally had me there. 2003 should be a very interesting year. Can’t wait!
Karen Baldwin wasn’t always the most believable character but Shantel is very talented and she always made me believe it. Whatever she was given, she sold it. I’m surprised it wasn’t the the other way around, though–that the reason they killed Karen was because Shantel had so many other opportunities she was interested in.
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But they really didn’t have to kill Molly! I know they really ran out of things to do with her, but they still could have wrote her out without killing her. In fact that final scene of her disappearing into the smoke works just as well as a farewell without us later finding out she died. I was fully prepared for that to be the last time we saw her, but wasn’t prepared for her to have died.
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Karen sleeping with Danny will never not be this show’s worst idea. But making Danny still hung up on Karen this season, so many years later . . . okay, THAT might be the show’s worst idea. It happened, everyone hated it . . . why did the show double down on it so hard?
So, let’s take stock…
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is on the same plain as OK City bombing
The gigantic traitor gets off scott free and happily works for the bad guys
The most interesting female character is killed off screen unceremoniously
The lying lesbian gets a happy ever after
Oh and don’t forget- North Korea got to Mars first
F#$k you Apple. Just F#$k you
You suckered me in again
What BS
If the “gigantic traitor” you’re referencing is Margot, I think the show did a good job showing how her choices were always complex and not easy for her, and she sure didn’t look “happy” in that final scene.
The “lying lesbian” might be happy with her partner, but her professional life is obviously anything but. I do hate that they killed off Molly that way.
Switch to decaf.
Or possibly add some Bailey’s to take the edge off.
Perhaps you should skip the next season and just stay on Truth Social.
Okay George, no reason to bring your politics into everything. I’m a Republican and I also think Adam sounds off his meds. We don’t all march in lockstep nor does your side. Bottom line is we both love this show, right?
Adam you are a twat.
Sigh. Excellent drama but will miss both these
Another excellent season! Looking forward to Season 4…in 2003!!!
So molly died because more of the building collapsed? I couldn’t get a decent freeze frame of the paper to read it.
Sucks they killed Molly off. I knew Karen was dead the moment she got head of the company. Look forward to seeing what happened to Dev.
It doesn’t really say exactly what happened that caused her death. That part that mentions what she did says: “Survivors of the bombing remember seeing Cobb navigating smoke-filled hallways, freeing people from the rubble and helping them find a means of escape. After leading a group to safety down a fire escape, she returned to the building one last time. Her body was recovered from the rubble 7 days later.”
I wondered the same thing (re: how she died). There was some smoke, but didn’t appear to be the amount of smoke that would cause someone to die from smoke inhalation. At the memorial it didn’t look like more of the building had collapsed either. I guess something inside could have fallen on her. I like that she at least went out a hero, but while watching it I kept wondering why is the blind lady the one that’s helping people out of the building. I’d get it if they were too injured to walk and there was no one else to help them. I’m going to miss having her on the show.
I think the whole point was that her years of being blind gave her the sense memory to navigate when you couldn’t see. And there was so much smoke, you couldn’t see.
Those of us who are not blind rely so heavily on our sight, to lose it in the moment is truly a handicap. But to someone who is blind, other senses compensate in a way we can’t imagine. It’s too easy for us to project that handicap onto blind people (especially in our completely visual world). But blind people do survive and thrive in and among us, they just go about things differently than we do.
I’m as happy as anyone that the writers brought Molly back for the finale. But the reason was to coach Ed on how to land the MSAM with next-to-no fuel. Hasn’t Ed proven himself to be the hottest of the hot-shot flyboy astronauts? Does he really need advice like “watch the horizon”? I don’t know what it would be, but seems like the writers could’ve ginned up a better excuse for getting Molly back to JSC.
I think Ed needed Molly more as a friend than anything. She was his exact counterpart as a pilot so whatever she said he knew already, but hearing it from someone that truly understood what was going on with the mission as well as in his head was a gift. I believe Margo knew it and didn’t have any objection when Ed asked for Molly. She also saw first hand what happened to him after Shane died so both women knew how scared Ed must have been, especially with Karen in the room.
Good points!
Hate that you killed Karen off
Really bummed that they killed off Karen. She was such a major part of the show. Can’t believe they did that! Will not continue to watch the show.
I don’t mind character deaths but it made no logical sense that Karen was out of the mission control room when Ed and her daughter were flying this critical life or death mission.
She and Amber (Danny’s wife) have shown throughout the season some level of concern for Jimmy, so when Amber called she trusted her guts and went to check on him. She had the time cause there’s an 8 minutes delay in communications between Earth and Mars, so you know plenty of time to give him a little pep talk and a shoulder to lean on. And let’s not forget that she went through this before so maybe leaving the room for a moment was good for her. Surely Karen could have not predicted that Jimmy was tied up by his deranged friends waiting to blow up everyone
Who delivered Kelly Baldwin’s baby on the orbiting Spacde ‘station’. There were no other people on board.
Waiting for an answer….
Check back around 1h04m and you’ll see the three members of the Phoenix crew that stayed back on the ship, and again at 1h06m40s you hear them say We’ve got her. I guess one of them delivered the baby following the Russian doctor instructions
am i the only one to immediately think, after seeing the bomb, let’s just take the battery out of the cellphone just in case…
Killing off Karen and Molly and not Danny makes no sense. The whole reason we were watching was the hope of Karen and Ed getting back together. even with Molly’s loss of eyesight still showed she was a force to be reckoned with. I really hope that the new season will think twice before closing the chapter.
I was really hoping Karen and Ed would find each other again but this time with both of them celebrating each other rather than the relationship being centered on Ed. At least I wanted some hint that they wanted to maybe start a new courtship much like it was for Tracy and Gordo.
The whole Danny thing was sickening in season 3 and seeing him stalking Karen even after his marriage was infuriating.
I am conflicted. I really like the show, but to many new characters and it begins to lose relevance. Shantel VanSanten’s portrayal of Karen was a particular high point, and Danny’s arc smelled suspiciously of jumping the shark.
Karen should’ve stayed