We can wait a long time for part 2 of The Martian. Still, there’s one sci-fi series that gives us a sense of how Matt Damon’s astronaut story could continue.
With The Martian, director Ridley Scott has created one of the most popular science fiction films of recent years. The story takes us to the year 2035 and tells of a nerve-wracking rescue mission. Astronaut Mark Watney, played by Matt Damon, is stranded on Mars and fights for survival.
What follows is a race against time: will the NASA crew on Earth manage to find a way to rescue Watney before his supplies run out? The staging of the film is so realistic that many people wondered at the time of its release whether The Martian was based on true events.
But many fans also wondered: What happens next in the story?
Is The Martian 2 coming? So far, there are no plans for a sequel to the sci-fi film
The Martian was a big hit at the box office. With a budget of 108 million US dollars, the film grossed over 630 million US dollars (via Box Office Mojo ). However, there are no concrete plans for a second part. This is actually surprising when you consider Hollywood’s obsession with franchises.
One of the main reasons why there is no Martian sequel is the original book. The bestseller written by Andy Weir, on which the sci-fi adventure is based, has already been exhausted with Scott’s film adaptation. Instead, there has been an excellent sci-fi series since 2019 that now feels like The Martian 2: For All Mankind
Here you can watch the trailer for For All Mankind:
For All Mankind started five years ago on the Apple TV+ streaming service and is about the space race. Instead of the USA, however, the Soviet Union lands on the moon first. This event triggers an alternative history in which NASA plays a much more important role than in our current, real world.
Read more: Why the sci-fi series For All Mankind is so good
The great sci-fi series For All Mankind goes further than The Martian 2 ever could
The moon is just one of many stages in For All Mankind. It’s not long before Mars comes into humanity’s sights. An experienced astronaut like Mark Watney would be a perfect fit to initiate the construction of the first Martian colony, whether on location or from Earth. Watney would fit perfectly into For All Mankind.
If you enjoyed The Martian and are keen to see part 2, the series is an ideal quasi-sequel. Four seasons have been released so far. The two most recent ones spend a lot of time on Mars and depict a gripping conquest of the red planet: First there is the spirit of exploration, later greed.
Stream now: The Martian with Matt Damon on Disney+ with subscription
What both The Martian and For All Mankind do extremely well is that although both stories clearly belong to the sci-fi genre, they are told in such a believable and human way that they can be taken for real. They also share a hopeful view of the future: if there is a problem, a solution can be found.
