''Mars'' is a

hard science-fiction Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's '' Islands of Space'' in the Nove ...

television series produced by

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

that premiered on November 14, 2016, on its channel and FX. Prior to its official airdate, it was launched in a streaming format on November 1, 2016. It blends elements of real interviews with a fictional story of a group of

astronauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

as they land on the planet

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

. The series is based on the Stephen Petranek book ''How We'll Live on Mars'' (2015). The fictional narrative initially alternates between the years 2016 and 2033, using present-day non-fiction interviews to explain events unfolding in the story. Over the series, the fictional narrative progresses through to 2042 as the colony develops. The series was filmed in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

and

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. A companion book to the series, ''Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet'' (October 2016), details the science behind the show. A

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term ...

episode, called ''Before Mars'', was produced and released conjointly with the series. It tells the fictional story of a moment in the life of one of the astronauts and the decisions she made to get involved in science. On January 13, 2017, it was announced that National Geographic had renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on November 12, 2018. The lead actress, Jihae, confirmed via her official Instagram that the series was canceled after only two seasons.

Premise

In the year 2033, a crew of six astronauts launch from Florida on a journey to be the first people to set foot on Mars. During the descent into the Martian atmosphere, there is a malfunction with their spacecraft, the ''Daedalus''. They land 75.3 kilometers away from their planned habitat. On Earth, their progress is being monitored. In the second season, the story jumps ahead several years into the future after the ''Daedalus'' astronauts have built a full-fledged colony called Olympus Town. Having established humankind as an interplanetary species, Season 2 examines the impact that humans have on the Red Planet and the consequences the planet has on us. Intermixed with the story is interview footage of real-life figures in the present, as well as of the fictional crew and their mission control. The real-life present-day interviews are with various scientists, engineers, and other public figures, such as

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...

Susan Wise Bauer Susan Wise Bauer (born 1968) is an American author, English instructor of writing and American literature at The College of William and Mary, and founder of Well-Trained Mind Press (formerly Peace Hill Press). Early life and education Susan Wis ...

Andy Weir Andrew Weir (; born June 16, 1972) is an American novelist. His 2011 novel '' The Martian'' was adapted into the 2015 film of the same name directed by Ridley Scott. He received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2016 and his 2 ...

Robert Zubrin Robert Zubrin (; born April 9, 1952) is an American aerospace engineer, author, and advocate for human exploration of Mars. He is also an advocate for U.S. space superiority, writing that "in the 21st century, victory on land, sea or in the air ...

, and

Neil deGrasse Tyson Neil deGrasse Tyson ( or ; born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysics, astrophysicist, author, and science communication, science communicator. Tyson studied at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia Univ ...

, among others, about the difficulties that the crew might face on a journey to, and living on, Mars.

Cast

The cast for the fictional part of the first season includes: *

Ben Cotton Ben Cotton (born July 26, 1975) is a Canadian film and television actor. His most notable roles are on the TV series ''Stargate Atlantis'' playing scientist Dr. Kavanagh, his portrayal of "Leon Bell" in the game Dead Rising 2, Shane Pierce, the ...

as Ben Sawyer, American mission commander and systems engineer. * Jihae Kim as ** Hana Seung, American mission pilot and systems engineer, later mission commander, and ** Joon Seung, her twin sister and

CAPCOM is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

of mission control on Earth, later secretary-general of International Mars Science Foundation, the multi-nation organization funding the Mars expedition. *

Clémentine Poidatz Clémentine Poidatz (born 19 June 1981) is a French actress. She studied at the Cours Florent then at the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique in Paris, France. Filmography Cinema * 2017 : '' To Each, Her Own'' by Myriam Aziza : ...

as Amelie Durand, French mission

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

. *

Sammi Rotibi Sammi Rotibi is a Nigerian-American film and television actor. His most notable roles are Rodney in ''Django Unchained'' and General Amajagh in '' Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice''. Background Rotibi was born and grew up in Lagos, Nigeria ...

as Robert Foucault, Nigerian mission engineer and

roboticist Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

. *

Alberto Ammann José Alberto Ammann Rey (born 1978) is an Argentine and Spanish actor. He has played various roles in films, television and theater. His feature film debut in '' Cell 211'' (2009) earned him a Goya Award for Best New Actor. Other film works i ...

as Javier Delgado, Spanish mission

hydrologist Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydro ...

and

geochemist Geochemistry is the science that uses the tools and principles of chemistry to explain the mechanisms behind major geological systems such as the Earth's crust and its oceans. The realm of geochemistry extends beyond the Earth, encompassing the e ...

. *

Anamaria Marinca Anamaria Marinca (born 1 April 1978) is a Romanian actress. She made her screen debut with the Channel 4 film ''Sex Traffic'', for which she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress. Marinca is also known for her performance in ...

as Marta Kamen, Russian mission exobiologist and

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

. *

Olivier Martinez Olivier Martinez (born 12 January 1966) is a French actor. He became well known after roles in several French films such as '' Un, deux, trois, soleil'' (1993), which garnered him the César Award for "Most Promising Actor", '' The Horseman on ...

as Ed Grann, CEO of the Mars Missions Corporation, consortium of private aerospace companies preparing Mars expeditions. * as Leslie Richardson, a logistical engineer who joins the expedition to oversee the base's expansion. In Season 2, she becomes secretary-general of International Mars Science Foundation. With the exception of Martinez and Cotton, all of these actors returned for the second season, which started production in July 2017.

Season 2

Esai Morales Esai Manuel Morales Jr. (born October 1, 1962) is an American actor. He has had notable roles in the films '' Bad Boys'' with Sean Penn and '' La Bamba'' with Lou Diamond Phillips. His television roles include the PBS 2002 drama series '' Americ ...

as Roland St. John,

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Lukrum. *

Jeff Hephner Jeffrey Hephner is an American actor, best known for the role of Jeff Clarke, first on the NBC television series '' Chicago Fire'' and then on its sister show, '' Chicago Med''. On film, he co-starred with Jennifer Garner in the action thrill ...

as Kurt Hurrelle, commander of the Lukrum Mars mission. *

Roxy Sternberg Roxy Sternberg (born 21 April 1989) is a British actress who currently lives in Brooklyn. She is known for her roles in '' FBI: Most Wanted'' (2020–2025), ''Mars'' (2018), and BBC sketch show '' Famalam'' (2018–2020). Early life Sternberg ...

as Jen Carson, one of the Lukrum workers. *

Akbar Kurtha Mohamed Akbar Kurtha (born 30 August 1970) is a British actor and producer, known for his role as Dr. Rana Mistry in the BBC soap opera ''Doctors'' (2000–2001). In a career spanning over thirty years, he has also appeared in various films inc ...

as Dr. Jay Johar * John Light as Paul Richardson

Production

The series music is composed by

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, writer, and actor who fronts the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Known for his baritone voice, Cave's music is characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety ...

and

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is an English comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ...

. The soundtrack for the first season was released on November 11, 2016. For the second season,

Dee Johnson Dee Johnson is an American television producer and writer. She has worked on the series '' ER'', ''Melrose Place'', '' Commander in Chief'', '' Southland'', ''The Good Wife'' and was an executive producer and showrunner on ''Nashville'' for seas ...

took over as showrunner. Stephen Cragg and Ashley Way joined returning director Everardo Gout. Esai Morales, Roxy Sternberg, Gunnar Cauthery, Levi Fiehler, Evan Hall,

and Jeff Hephner joined the Season 2 cast. The second season premiered in the UK and Belgium on November 11, 2018, and in the US on November 12.

Episodes

Prequel (2016)

Season 1 (2016)

Season 2 (2018)

Special (2018)

Reception

Critical response

The first season of ''Mars'' received mixed reviews, holding a 61% approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

with an average score of 7.33/10 based on 18 reviews; in 2018, the critical consensus stated:

"Ron Howard's direction ensures that Mars is an attractive endeavor, even if the show struggles to move smoothly between its documentary and fictional elements."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the first season has received a score of 59 out of 100 based on 14 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{National Geographic TV 2010s American science fiction television series 2016 American television series debuts 2018 American television series endings American English-language television shows Television series set in 2033 Television series set in 2042 Mars in television National Geographic (American TV channel) original programming Neil deGrasse Tyson Science education television series Television series about astronauts Television series about outer space Television series by Imagine Entertainment