''Space Force'' is an American

workplace comedy Office humor, also often called workplace comedy, is humor within the workplace, particularly in the office environment. It is a subject that receives significant attention from students of industrial and organizational psychology and of the soci ...

television series created by

Greg Daniels Gregory Martin Daniels (born June 13, 1963) is an American screenwriter, television producer, and director. He has worked on several television series, including writing for ''Saturday Night Live'' and ''The Simpsons'', adapting '' The Office'' ...

and

Steve Carell Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He starred as Michael Scott in the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2011, 2013), and also worked at several points as a producer, executive producer, writer, a ...

for

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. It centers on a group of people tasked with establishing the sixth branch of the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

, the

United States Space Force The United States Space Force (USSF) is the space force branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces, armed forces of the United States and one of the eight uniformed services of the Unite ...

. It stars

John Malkovich John Gavin Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an American actor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and ...

Ben Schwartz Benjamin Joseph Schwartz (born September 15, 1981) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his recurring role as Jean-Ralphio Saperstein on the NBC sitcom '' Parks and Recreation'', his starring role as Clyde Oberholt on the Sh ...

, Diana Silvers,

Lisa Kudrow Lisa Valerie Kudrow ( ; born July 30, 1963) is an American actress. She rose to international fame for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the American television sitcom ''Friends'', which aired from 1994 to 2004. The series earned her Primetime Emmy A ...

, Tawny Newsome and Jimmy O. Yang. It premiered on Netflix on May 29, 2020, to mixed reviews. In November 2020, it was renewed for a second season which premiered on February 18, 2022, to generally favorable reviews. In April 2022, the series was cancelled after two seasons.

Premise

''Space Force'' is a

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

series that centers on a group of people tasked with establishing the sixth branch of the

, the

. Season One follows the efforts of General Mark Naird (Carell) to get "boots on the Moon" by 2024, per the president's orders.

Cast and characters

Main

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Mark R. Naird, the Space Force's first Chief of Space Operations *

as Dr. Adrian Mallory, Space Force chief scientist *

as F. Tony Scarapiducci, Space Force social media director * Diana Silvers as Erin Naird, Mark's teenage daughter * Tawny Newsome as

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Angela Ali, a Space Force helicopter pilot, and later, astronaut. In the final minutes of the last episode of season 2, she is promoted to

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

. * Jimmy O. Yang as Dr. Chan Kaifang, Dr. Mallory's lead assistant (season 2; recurring season 1) *

Don Lake Donald Lake (born November 26, 1956) is a Canadian actor, writer, and television producer. He is frequently cast by director Christopher Guest, and is also a close friend and frequent collaborator of Bonnie Hunt. He had a role in '' The Bonnie ...

as Brigadier General Bradley Gregory, Naird's

executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer ...

(season 2; recurring season 1)

Recurring

Military

* Noah Emmerich as General Kick Grabaston,

Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force The chief of staff of the Air Force ( acronym: CSAF, or AF/CC) is the service chief of the United States Air Force. They are the principal military advisor to the secretary of the Air Force on matter pertaining to the Air Force. They are a m ...

* Alexey Vorobyov (credited as

Alex Sparrow Alexey Vladimirovich Vorobyov (; 19 January 1988) is a Russian singer and actor who performs both in Russian and English. For international purposes Vorobyov is also credited as Alex Sparrow, a translation of his Russian name. He is best kno ...

) as Captain Yuri "Bobby" Telatovich (), a

Russian Space Forces The Russian Space Forces () is the space force branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces. It was reestablished following the August 1, 2015 merger between the Russian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces, after the independent arm of s ...

liaison with the Space Force, spy, and illegitimate son of

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

* Roy Wood Jr. as Colonel Bert Mellows,

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

liaison to the Space Force *

Jane Lynch Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. Known for playing starring and recurring roles in comedic television, her accolades include one Golden Globe, five Primetime Emmys and two Screen Actors Gui ...

as Admiral Mayweather,

Chief of Naval Operations The chief of naval operations (CNO) is the highest-ranking officer of the United States Navy. The position is a statutory office () held by an Admiral (United States), admiral who is a military adviser and deputy to the United States Secretary ...

Diedrich Bader Karl Diedrich Bader (born December 24, 1966) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his comedic and voice acting roles. He has appeared as a series regular in television sitcoms ''The Drew Carey Show'', '' American Housewife'', ...

as General Rongley,

Chief of Staff of the United States Army The chief of staff of the Army (CSA) is a statutory position in the United States Army held by a general officer. As the highest-ranking officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army, the chief is the principal military advisor and a ...

Patrick Warburton Patrick Warburton (born November 14, 1964) is an American actor. His live action TV roles include David Puddy on ''Seinfeld'', the Tick (character), title character on ''The Tick (2001 TV series), The Tick'', Jeb Denton on ''Less than Perfect'' ...

as General Dabney Stramm,

Commandant of the Marine Corps Commandant of the Marine Corps may refer to: * Commandant of the Marine Corps (Indonesia) * Commandant of the Netherlands Marine Corps * Commandant of the Philippine Marine Corps * Commandant of the Republic of Korea Marine Corps * Commandant of th ...

Larry Joe Campbell Larry Joe Campbell is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Andy on the ABC sitcom '' According to Jim''. Early life Campbell was born in Pontiac, Michigan, however, grew up in Cadillac. He graduated from high sch ...

as Admiral Louis Biffoont,

Commandant of the Coast Guard Commandant ( or ; ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ...

* Spencer House as Duncan Tabner, a Space Force security guard from Alabama * Jamison Webb as Major Lee Baxter * Brandon Molale as Captain Clarke Luffinch, USAF

Politicians

Dan Bakkedahl Dan Bakkedahl (born November 18, 1969) is an American actor and improvisational comedian. He is best known for starring as Tim Hughes on the CBS sitcom ''Life in Pieces'', as Congressman Roger Furlong on the HBO series ''Veep'', and as Steve Nuge ...

as John Blandsmith, Secretary of Defense (Season 1) *

Ginger Gonzaga Ginger Gonzaga (born May 17, 1983) is an American comedian and actress. Since coming to attention hosting Hulu's daily pop culture show '' The Morning After'' (2011–12), she has had numerous guest and recurring roles on television and has bee ...

as Anabela Ysidro-Campos, credited and referred to as "the Angry Young Congresswoman" and also known as AYC, a parody of

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (born October 13, 1989), also known as AOC, is an American politician and activist who has served since 2019 as the United States House of Representatives, US representative for New York's 14th congressional distric ...

* Concetta Tomei as Representative Pitosi, a parody of

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hung ...

Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi ( ; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who was the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 2007 to 2011 an ...

Alan Blumenfeld Alan Blumenfeld (born September 4, 1952) is an American character actor, best known for his role in NBC's TV series ''Heroes (U.S. TV series), Heroes'' as Maury Parkman, the telepathy, telepath father of Matt Parkman played by Greg Grunberg, and ...

as Senator Schugler, a parody of

Senate Majority Leader The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and people of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as chief spokespersons for their respective political parties, holding the ...

Chuck Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from New York (state), New York, a seat he has held since 1999. ...

Tim Meadows Tim Meadows (born February 5, 1961) is an American actor and comedian. He was one of the longest-running cast members on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'', where he appeared for 10 seasons from 1991 to 2000. For his work on ''S ...

as Secretary of Defense (Season 2)

Scientists

* Jessica St. Clair as Kelly King, structural engineer and civil contractor * Thomas Ohrstrom as Dr. Vandeveld, an ESA representative from Belgium * Nancy Lantis as Dr. Wolf, a Canadian scientist * Punam Patel as Dr. Ranatunga * JayR Tinaco as Dr. Xyler

Family

Fred Willard Frederick Charles Willard Jr. (September 18, 1933 May 15, 2020) was an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his work with Christopher Guest in his mockumentary films ''This Is Spinal Tap'' (1984), ''Waiting for Guffman'' (1996), ''Be ...

as Fred Naird, Mark's father (season 1) *

as Maggie Naird, Mark's wife

Other

* Chris Gethard as Eddie Broser * Landon Ashworth as Gabe Eli * Owen Daniels as Obie Hanrahan * Aparna Nancherla as Pella Bhat * Hector Duran as Julio Díaz-José * Carolyn Wilson as Louise Papaleo * Vivis Colombetti as Hilde * Amanda Lund as Anna * Marc Sully Saint-Fleur as Jean Baptiste Bosou * Scott Michael Morgan as Emmett Bunyan

Guest

* Rahul Nath as Dr. Chandreshekar * Tommy Cook as Representative Bob White * Asif Ali as Captain Dave Powers, USSF *

Michael Hitchcock Michael Hitchcock (born July 28, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and television producer. Early life Hitchcock received his Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Un ...

as Jerome Lalosz * Alice Wetterlund as Major Jane Pike, USSF *

Punkie Johnson Jessica Williams (born April 29, 1985), known professionally as Punkie Johnson, is an American comedian and actress based in New York City and began her career as a stand-up comedian at The Comedy Store in California. Johnson is best known for ...

as Staff Sergeant Kiki Rhodes, USSF * Kaitlin Olson as Edison Jaymes, "an

Elizabeth Holmes Elizabeth Anne Holmes (born February 3, 1984) is an American biotechnology entrepreneur who was convicted of fraud in connection with her blood-testing company, Theranos. The company's valuation soared after it claimed to have revolutionize ...

-esque tech wiz" * Janina Gavankar as Hannah Howard, Jaymes' social media manager * Bruce Locke as General Tsengjun, a Chinese general in the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

* Kelvin Han Yee as General Gao Xiaoling (), a Chinese general in the

and the

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force The People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force was a service branch of the People's Liberation Army that existed from December 2015 to April 2024. With an aim to improve the army's ability to fight what China terms "informationized confli ...

* Megan Grano as Reporter No. 2 (Meredith) * Jessica McKenna as Participant No. 2 *

Patton Oswalt Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His acting roles include Spence Olchin in the sitcom ''The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–2023) as adult ...

as Captain Lancaster, an astronaut stationed in space (season 2) *

Terry Crews Terry Alan Crews (born July 30, 1968) is an American actor, television host, and former professional American football, football player. He played Julius Rock in the UPN/The CW Television Network, CW sitcom ''Everybody Hates Chris'', which air ...

as General Aggroad, the new Air Force Chief of Staff (season 2) * Tim Chiou as Dr. Lim, a Chinese astronaut (season 2) * Richard Ouyang as Dr. Zhang, Chinese chief scientist

Episodes

Season 1 (2020)

Season 2 (2022)

Production

Development

On January 16, 2019, it was announced that

had given the production a series order for a ten-episode first season. The series is co-created by

and

and is executive produced by Daniels, Carell, and Howard Klein through

3 Arts Entertainment 3 Arts Entertainment, formerly 3 Arts Productions, is an American film and television production company founded in 1991 by Erwin Stoff, Michael Rotenberg and Howard Klein. The company has gone on to produce television series such as ''King o ...

. On November 13, 2020, the series was renewed for a second season, produced in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

to lower the show's budget. Producer Daniels explained that they would refocus the tone and emphases of the show for the second season and that they had brought veteran comedy director Ken Kwapis in to help achieve that goal. On April 29, 2022, Netflix canceled the series after two seasons.

Casting

Alongside the initial series order announcement, it was confirmed that Carell would star in the series. On September 26, 2019, it was announced that

, Diana Silvers and Tawny Newsome had joined that series as main cast and Jimmy O. Yang,

and

as recurring cast. In October 2019, Noah Emmerich,

and Jessica St. Clair joined the cast in recurring roles. In April 2020, it was announced

had joined the cast in a recurring role. In May 2020, it was reported that

and Roy Wood Jr. were cast in recurring roles. The series features the last television performance by Willard, who died on May 15, 2020, two weeks before the show's release.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

for the first season commenced in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, on October 1, 2019, and ended on January 10, 2020. Most exterior shots of the fictional Space Force base were shot on the campus of

California State University, Dominguez Hills California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH, CSU Dominguez Hills, or Cal State Dominguez Hills) is a public university in Carson, California. It was founded in 1960 and is part of the California State University (CSU) system. In 2020, ...

. Filming for season 2 began in late May 2021 in

and wrapped in late June 2021.

Release

The series was released on Netflix on May 29, 2020. At their Q2 report meeting in July 2020, Netflix reported the series had been viewed by about 40 million households since its release. In August 2020, it was estimated that 8.3% of subscribers had watched the series over its first month. The second season premiered on February 18, 2022. The second season featured on Netflix 's global top 10s for 1 week recording 12.32 million hours watched globally.

Reception

Critical response

Season 1

On review aggregator

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 ...

, the first season of the series has an approval rating of 38% based on 96 reviews, with an average rating of 5.80/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "An all-star cast and blockbuster-worthy special effects aren't enough to keep ''Space Force''s uneven blend of earnestness and satire from spinning quickly out of comedic orbit." On

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 ...

, it has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American writer. He is a former columnist and film critic for the '' Chicago Sun-Times'', where he wrote for 39 years dating back to 1986 until his departure in 2025. He co-hosted the television s ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' praised Carell, for his "impeccable comedic timing and his uncanny ability to play yet another character who's often an insufferable buffoon with not a speck of self-awareness" but criticized the hit-and-miss humor, and unrealized potential, saying "Don't get me wrong; I enjoyed ''Space Force''... It's just with all the credentials of the main contributors, we hoped for greatness and got ... pretty good."

Caroline Framke Caroline Framke (born September 30, 1988) is an American writer and critic and is Chief TV Critic at '' Variety''. Formerly, she was a columnist at Vox and has contributed to ''The Atlantic'', ''The A.V. Club'', '' Flavorwire'', ''Complex'', ''V ...

of '' Variety'' wrote: "For all the heft behind it, ''Space Force'' should be an easy win. Ten episodes later, it's safer to say that ''Space Force'' is really just okay." Nick Allen, writing for '' RogerEbert.com'' says, "''Space Force'' has the supporting characters to color its cringe-worthy absurdity," praising its cast but calling out on the story's incompetence. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' gave the first season of the series only 2 out of 5 saying, "Above all, despite occasional laughs to be gleaned from the twist that Malkovich can give the most unpromising of lines, ''Space Force'' is not funny, which makes it hard to class as a comedy." Joshua Rivera from ''

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American Technology journalism, technology news website headquarters, headquartered in Lower Manhattan, New York City and operated by Vox Media. The website publishes news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, cons ...

'' gave ''Space Force'' a disappointing review stating that "the show falls apart before it even gets going", chiefly because it strays away from the sharp political satire that shows such as ''

Veep ''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci. The series follows Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the fictional Vice Pres ...

'' had nailed and instead "adheres to the conventions of the workplace comedy."

Season 2

On review aggregator

, the second season of the series has an approval rating of 90% based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. On

, it has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100 based on 4 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Nick Allen of '' RogerEbert.com'' said "''Space Force'' is good, or good enough, with what matters most to it." '' Variety'' Caroline Framke opined that "The result isn't half as sleek or ambitious as the initial season, but the show at least seems much more comfortable in its own skin."

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Space Force (TV series) 2020 American television series debuts 2022 American television series endings 2020s American LGBTQ-related sitcoms 2020s American single-camera sitcoms 2020s American workplace comedy television series American English-language television shows Netflix sitcoms Gay-related television shows Fiction about the People's Liberation Army Television shows about the United States Space Force Television series by 3 Arts Entertainment Television shows set in Colorado Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Television shows filmed in Vancouver Television series created by Greg Daniels