The Big Picture

Collider’s Steve Weintraub talks with Ronald D. Moore ahead of
For All Mankind
Season 5 at SDCC 2024.
During this interview, Moore discusses past, present, & future projects, reminiscing about series like
Battlestar Galactica
,
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
, and more.
Moore also shares updates on
For All Mankind
Season 5, the spin-off series
Star City
, and the
Outlander
spin-off show
Blood of My Blood
.

Ronald D. Moore’s influence on science fiction is undeniable. The screenwriter and producer has worked on major sci-fi IPs, from his now-iconic remake of Battlestar Galactica to the Star Trek Universe, which he’s arguably best known for. He’s since gone on to develop original work in the genre with Apple TV+’s acclaimed series For All Mankind, as well as tried his hand at romantic fantasy with the massively popular Outlander series.

While at San Diego Comic-Con, Moore stopped by Collider’s studio and spoke with Steve Weintraub extensively about past, present, and future projects. In this interview, we’re talking remakes, spin-offs, upcoming seasons, and tons more. They take a look back at what Moore considers to be some of his best episodes of television with Battlestar, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and more. The writer-producer also shares his thoughts on Star Trek: Picard Season 3 and how he feels about a Battlestar Galactica remake.

In addition to looking back at what he’s done, Moore looks ahead and shares the vision for their For All Mankind spin-off series, Star City, where they’re at in production with For All Mankind Season 5, the possibility of starships, and teases big shake-ups. He also discusses what fans can expect from the Outlander prequel spin-off Blood of My Blood. Check out the video above or the transcript below for the full conversation.

For All Mankind Exploring the possibilities that might exist if the global space race had continued and where humanity would be now.Release Date November 1, 2019 Creator Ronald D. Moore, Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert Main Genre Sci-Fi Seasons 4

‘For All Mankind’ Season 5 Is Officially Underway
Image by Collider

COLLIDER: For All Mankind, how is that going right now?

RON MOORE: It’s great. We just started shooting on Season 5, which is fantastic. I can’t believe we’re in Season 5 already. It’s kind of crazy. We’re in the writing period of the spinoff series, which is Star City, which is very exciting. I’m very happy that Apple was supportive of that whole concept and to do it and to tell the story from the cosmonaut point of view and how the Russians got to the moon first and what it was like to work in that program.

I didn’t know a lot about the Russian space program before I started doing this project. I knew an awful lot about the American program, but I think most Americans don’t know a lot of details about that. It was pretty ballsy stuff that they did. The spacecraft were not quite as reliable as ours were; they lost a lot of good people on them. The conditions were tough. They also had things like the KGB being around and hanging out in mission control, so there’s a lot of espionage and Cold War kind of environments that you’re dealing with in that particular show. So, it’s a familiar tale in terms of the narrative for people who watch Mankind. They know the Soviets got there first and they know that they have a robust space program in our alternate history, but certainly the details of how that program worked and what it was like to be on the inside of that program, I think are gonna be really interesting to the audience.

‘For All Mankind’ Spin-Off ‘Star City’ Explores the Russians’ POV
Image via Apple TV+

I have so many follow-ups. With For All Mankind, everyone has talked about a seven-year plan. For this Star City, how did it come together? Was it you guys saying, “We have this idea. We have an idea for five years. We have an idea for three?” Or how much was it Apple, saying, “We’re doing really well with this. We wanna do more?”

MOORE: It was a nice synthesis of both, because we had an idea for how to expand For All Mankind in general. We had talked about, “What are the possibilities? What are the other stories we can tell in this universe?” Because we had created, essentially, a whole alternate universe, and, “What are the ways that we could explore it?” One of the first ones on that short list was, “Well, what about the Russian point of view?”

We were also hearing such positive feedback from Apple that they were very receptive to the idea of doing something else. So, it wasn’t a tough sell at all. They kind of said, “Yeah, the audience likes it, the show is doing really well. We love it.” They’re very supportive of the show. From the top ranks of the corporation, they’re fans of the show, which has been really nice.

That’s the secret. Let me be honest here, Apple doesn’t have the biggest market share on streaming. But Apple, for me, is my favorite streaming service. I think they make the best shows and their sci-fi is incredible. They’re the best.

MOORE: They’ve become the destination for premium science fiction. It’s really something. And I think they take enormous pride in [it]. When they do a show, they try to do it the best they possibly can. They give it resources, they try to make sure that it’s realized at a top level across the board, they try to attract top talent, top writers, and they’re very supportive of content in trying to do it the best that you can possibly do.

With Star City, did you guys map out an idea that you think could go multiple seasons—five years or seven years—or is it one of these where it’s more like season by season?

MOORE: No, we have a path. We have a general arc. It’s probably not as detailed as what we started off with on For All Mankind, but we have a general sort of, “Okay, here’s the structure of how this would play out over several seasons.”

Are you aiming to do what For All Mankind does, which is like an eight, nine, 10-year jump after each season?

MOORE: I’m not sure what the jumps will be. We know we are gonna jump through time. We haven’t quite got to that point yet. It’s probably still a in-the-decade, or so, jump ahead. We don’t know if we’re gonna do exactly what the Mankind jumps were or if we’ll try to split them in the middle. But it’s still a format that works for us and makes it a unique part of this universe. It also allows their space program to advance. That was why we did it on Mankind so that you could see the advancement in chunks instead of getting stuck in a very limited timeframe where there really wouldn’t be a lot of change.

Last question on Star City. I’m curious about how the accents will be portrayed? Have you thought about that? Will it be like Russian accents talking English? Will it be one of those Hunt for Red October things where they’re talking Russian, they’re zooming in, and all of a sudden, everyone’s talking English?

MOORE: They’re writing it right now, so that’s one of the questions that’s on the table at the moment is, “Okay, how do we do that?” I know that Matt [Wolpert] and Ben [Nedivi] have played around with different ideas about it. I don’t know that they’ve locked into exactly how we’re going to do it.

I would actually like to hear everyone speaking Russian with English subtitles, but I’m in the minority. I know that. Is that even something you’re talking about?

MOORE: We’re probably not going to do that, but it has been discussed.

“Big Changes” Are Coming in ‘For All Mankind’ Season 5
Image via Apple TV+

Going into For All Mankind, last season ended with a pretty cool Easter egg of that shot, there’s a flag. I’m just curious, what can you tease?

MOORE: Not a lot. Like I said, we just started shooting it. We’ve got some big surprises coming, as we always do. We’re working through what the finale is because even though we just started shooting, we’re starting to structure out the last third of the season. There are big changes on the Martian base, and there are big changes politically back on Earth.

Do you normally have all the scripts done when you’re shooting or is it like, “We have five and then we’re still writing?”

MOORE: It varies. The ideal is you have them all ready. [Laughs] We’ve never had them all ready. You usually have like five to six, depending on how many you get ahead, and then the rest in some kind of outline form or story treatment form. You’re always trying to. I don’t know how some shows do that. They manage to write them all in advance, but we’ve never actually done that.

Anytime I talk to anyone from For All Mankind, I say the same question, and here we go—you should know what’s coming. When am I getting the starship?

MOORE: [Laughs] It’s not out of the question. We do talk about it. We’ll see.

I’m so happy that Apple is making a spinoff, but I’m still thinking that after For All Mankind, the best spinoff is jumping 100 years ahead, and then you’re doing Star Trek, but in For All Mankind.

MOORE: This, too, has been discussed, among many other possibilities.

I really want you to make this happen, sir. I know you have some history with Star Trek and I think it would be very cool.

MOORE: I get it. [Laughs]

Also, Apple could have a Star Trek show, and I know it would be done right.

Related Ronald D. Moore on ‘For All Mankind’ Season 3, Their Seven Year Plan, and If We’ll Ever See a Starship He also talks about the growing popularity of the series and how long it took to create the opening montage in the first episode of Season 3.

The other thing is, I know you signed a deal with Sony. What exactly does that entail?

MOORE: It’s a new deal, so I’m developing shows for Sony now. Some from existing IP, some things I’m thinking of creating myself where other writers pitch to me. It’s an overall deal, and the objective is to develop multiple new series going forward.

‘Outlander’ Prequel Series, ‘Blood of My Blood’ Heads Back to Castle Leoch
Image via Starz

What is going on with Outlander right now?

MOORE: Shooting Season 8, the final season. The second part of Season 7 premieres, I believe, November 22. We don’t have an air date for the last season yet. There’s also a spin-off series of that called Blood of My Blood, which goes into Jamie’s parents, and we’re back at Castle Leoch and Scotland, which was cool to go back and recreate some of those sets in the castle, which was in the Scottish highlands, and revisiting that whole world where the show had left many seasons ago. Also we get to know Claire’s parents, too, which will be cool.

Have you figured out the final shot of Outlander?

MOORE: I have not, but I bet Matt Roberts has.

The show has been so successful, it’s like where and how do you want to end it?

MOORE: Matt, who’s the current showrunner, he’s run it for the last few seasons, is writing the finale. We’ve all talked. There’s been a lot of discussion and a tremendous amount of thought about, “Well, what’s the final note that series should end on?” But I defer to Matt on how he decides to do that.

Is the prequel currently shooting?

MOORE: It’s been shot. We have shot the prequel.

There we go. Do you know when it’s coming out?

MOORE: I don’t have air dates for the prequel or for the final season. I think one is in 2025 and one is 2024, but I don’t know which is which off the top of my head, and I don’t wanna say it wrong.

Do you know how many episodes the prequel has?

MOORE: I believe the prequel is 10.

Related First ‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood’ Images Bridge the Future and the Past The prequel series following the love stories of Claire and Jamie’s parents arrives in 2025.

Some streamers are now pushing towards six, Apple sometimes does nine, eight or 10 episodes. How did you guys decide on that number? Was it a studio note?

MOORE: It’s a combination of factors. There’s what the network wants to do, what fits on their schedule, then it becomes a budgetary question, and then a practical question. Especially when you’re juggling two shows that are being shot at the same facility in Scotland. So, there was also a scheduling issue. How many episodes could you shoot, and what’s the transition to the other show? So, it was a complicated formula to get to the number.

Before contracts were signed for the prequel, did you learn anything on Outlander that you’re like, “We need to make sure that we have this with the cast…?” You know what I mean?

MOORE: Not much. You don’t really change. They’re all kind of standard deals. In success, things change. That’s just the rule of the business. I don’t think that there was a big difference between the deals that the Outlander cast signed and the Blood of My Blood cast signed. But if the shows are successful, these things get revisited and things change.

‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ Was Like Grad School for Ronald D. Moore

Are you surprised or happy that [Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]—I feel it’s finally getting the respect it deserves?

MOORE: I’m very pleased about that. We always felt that, “Someday they’ll love us.” “Someday they’ll love us,” we told each other. It’s nice that they do.

I love DS9.

MOORE: I think it’s great.

The thing about DS9 for me is, even the first season is good. It just kicks the door in and just goes. Talk a little bit about your time on that show and what it means to you.

MOORE: It was a very special show for me. I sort of liken it to doing grad school. Next Generation was undergrad for me and then I got to go to grad school and really learn television and really get deeper into characters and deeper into production. I learned a tremendous amount from Ira Behr, who was essentially running that show, and it was just fun. We had a sense of breaking new ground all the time. We were trying to introduce more serializations into the Star Trek format. We were taking characters into darker, more ambiguous corners, telling more challenging stories, playing with the format. It was just a really fun time where we felt like, “We’re really redefining what Star Trek is with this show.” We felt we could have kept going. It was seven seasons, but the whole staff would have been happy to do [Seasons] 8, 9, and 10.

I would have been very happy if you guys had. This is also going back to why I want you involved in a Star Trek show that takes place after For All Mankind. Obviously that tone of For All Mankind is very realistic, grounded, based in science fact. It would be interesting because DS9 is obviously playing with science fiction. It’s a completely different take.

MOORE: Oh, yeah, absolutely. They’re different shows and they exist in different universes. It has been interesting as we’ve gone further down the timeline on For All Mankind, it’s become more and more science fiction. Now we’re dealing with bigger sci-fi concepts and just trying to keep them as grounded and as real as we can so that everything that we do seems like it’s plausible, like this could happen. Maybe we fudge some of the details here and there, but we try to keep inside the lines. So we really try to keep it as speculative fiction.

Related ‘For All Mankind’ Creators Tease Season 4 as the Show Becomes More Science Fiction [Exclusive] Showrunners Ben Nedivi & Matt Wolpert talk mining asteroids, introducing new characters, AI in their alt-history, Season 5, and tons more.

That’s the reason why I’m very curious about Season 5 and, God willing, 6 and 7 because you guys are finally reaching the point where, “Oh, we need to start coming up with stuff. What’s science fact now that we’ve introduced all of these things? How are we building on this?” So, I’m curious, for you guys in the writers’ room, how much are you talking to futurists? How much are you looking at what people are working on now and saying, “Oh, maybe we could do this?”

MOORE: A lot of that starts in the writers’ room. We also have a full-time researcher and we also rely a lot on Garret Reisman, who’s our technical consultant, who is an actual NASA astronaut. He was been with the projects from the very beginning, and Garrett is very up-to-date on all of that stuff. He comes into the writers’ room periodically to just say, “Okay, this is all fun, guys, but you couldn’t actually do this.” We’re like, “Really?” We whine, and he’s like, “No, no, no.” But he’s also good about helping us figure out a way to accomplish the dramatical of what we’re trying to do, even if the physics is completely bonkers in what we’ve pitched to him. But he keeps us informed on what are theoretical drives for propulsion systems, for engines, how would life support theoretically work, and what’s even further on the horizon of how those things would work as you really start building that stuff out. So, we try to keep current with what people are actually thinking and what’s a theoretical possibility.

Usually, with shows every season, you get to build a new set. Is there a new set that fans can look forward to in Season 5?

MOORE: There are multiple new sets in Season 5. If you look at the show, we’ve done that almost every year. Because of those time jumps, we’ve essentially had to reinvent the show every season. There are certain sets that we sort of expanded on and built on in the first couple of years, but now the Martian base is much bigger. It has its own mission control, and it’s a much bigger operation than what it was. As a result, we had to create a lot of new sets for Mars.

Ron Moore Shares His Favorite ‘Picard’ Season 3 Moment
Image via Paramount+

I thought Picard Season 3 was fantastic. What was your take on it?

MOORE: It was enormously gratifying to see the gang back together. It touched me. It touched me more than I thought it would. I was like, “Oh, man, that’s so cool!” When they revealed Worf was one of my favorite beats in that whole thing. I was like, “Oh, that’s Worf! That’s so great.” [Laughs] And just seeing them together again and sharing the screen together, and how comfortable they were being around each other and doing the show. It was really fun. I’m really glad they did that.

What I also loved, and I don’t know how they did it because I know that you only have so much budget, but that last episode when they created the ship, I was like, “How the F did you guys pull this off?”

MOORE: I know. I’m curious myself. I need to ask them. I need to call them, like, “So, how did you do this?” Because they really pulled it off.

I know how expensive it is to do things, and that’s a set. That is not cheap to do. You gotta find the blueprints, “How do you make this work?”

MOORE: Oh, it’s a whole thing. It must have tortured them to get to that place.

Also, I’m a little bit like, “What do I need to do to keep that set?” I will just find a place for it. Anyway, I’m glad you enjoyed that season.

Ronald Moore Shares His Favorite ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ and Star Trek Episodes
Image via SYFY

When you think back on the shows that you’ve worked on, like TNG, DS9, Battlestar, all the things you’ve done, do you have an actual episode that you’re like, “Man, this is really good?”

MOORE: There’s probably one of those in each of the series I worked on. They also occurred at different points in my career, so I take pride in them for different reasons at different points. [Battlestar Galactica]’s “33” is still the one that I look back on, and I screened recently with an audience, and I was like, “Wow, this one really holds up.” It was the way I did that one that I was very proud of. It’s a great piece of television. It’s a great way to kick off the series after the miniseries. It’s sort of a second pilot for the show. It’s a great episode.

Then, Next Generation, “Data’s Day” is one I’ve always been very proud of because it was such a conceptual show, and I was early in my career to tackle something like that. It was such a character piece, and the action-adventure was on a very low boil. I really liked doing that. On Deep Space Nine, there’s a bunch of them. “Our Man Bashir” is a standout. That was like, “This is fun. Let’s have fun for an episode. Let’s blend Bond and Trek, and really go to town on it.” And “In the Pale Moonlight” was really a fantastic show. They all have special, special places in my heart.

Every episode you’ve just mentioned are favorites. Sometimes online, people can be a little, “Whatever,” but I don’t know anyone who has said anything bad about “33.” That’s just an episode universally loved.

MOORE: It really, really worked. It was the cast coming back together. There had been an extended break between the miniseries and the start of the series, so they hadn’t been back together again in quite a while and didn’t even know if the show was gonna happen. So, them coming together and doing the first table read and really wanting to get it right… I remember Eddie [James Olmos] telling the cast, “Hey, none of you should sleep. None of us should sleep. We should really do it. Let’s be awake for five days.” And they were like, “Yeah, okay. That sounds fun…” But it was really kind of cool.

[Laughs] I don’t think people would be able to remember their lines, but it was a great idea.

MOORE: It was a great idea, and he went for it. Eddie walks the walk. He stayed up himself a long time.

I have a tremendous amount of respect for him.

Here’s What Ronald Moore Really Thinks About a ‘Battlestar’ Remake

There’s been talk about doing a new Battlestar or a movie. I’ve heard rumblings for so long. Do you pay attention to this stuff? What are your thoughts?

MOORE: It certainly catches my attention whenever it’s mentioned, but like you said, they’ve been talking about it for a long time. Sam Esmael called me a couple of years ago, maybe several years ago now, just to say he was doing it and was I okay with that? And it was lovely. He didn’t need my permission. I just thought it was a nice courtesy call. I told him, “Godspeed.” I came in and reinvented it, so what am I gonna say about anyone else who wants to do it? I wish them well.

I think the idea is so good. It’s just a question of how do you do it better? What’s gonna be different about it? Why? You know what I mean?

MOORE: I absolutely do. In all modesty, we set a very high bar for what that show is.

100%.

MOORE: That’s a task for whoever comes after us.

People love your Battlestar, so it’s like you’re gonna have to appeal to all those fans and find a way to appeal to new fans. It’s a tricky game.

MOORE: It is, but it can be done. There’s a lot of talented people out there. We’ll see what they come up with.

Also, Sam is a very talented writer.

MOORE: Absolutely.

He is one of the few people that I’m like, “Oh, wait, I actually am curious. After Mr. Robot, if you have an idea…”

MOORE: I’m curious to see what it is. I’ll watch. Sign me up.

Related What’s Going On With Sam Esmail’s ‘Battlestar Galactica’ Reboot? Given Esmail’s track record, a reboot is still exciting news, but what’s the latest update?

Because you’re involved in so many different things, how does it actually work for you during the week, Monday through Friday? Are you working on multiple things throughout the day? Do you spend a week on one thing?

MOORE: It really varies a lot. There are definitely days when I’m jumping multiple products. Right now, in this moment in time, most of my time is spent on developing new things on the new Sony deal. So, I’m talking to new writers or I’m talking to the studio about different projects or I’m working up pitches or story outlines on new things. Then there are other weeks where I’m pulled into some of the other shows, and you get more involved in some of those story conferences or something. Then if something of mine is in production, then that takes over. But I try to keep it Monday through Friday. Basically, I try to have a life.

For All Mankind Seasons 1 through 4 are available to stream on Apple TV+.

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