As the last remaining original cast member of For All Mankind, many viewers would not expect Margo Madison (Wrenn Schmidt) to be unable to participate in the events of the penultimate season. And yet, it made perfect sense, according to Schmidt herself. While For All Mankind‘s season 5 finale plunged Mars into war and chaos, with the denizens on Earth holding their breath for the outcome, Margo was kept totally out of the action.

Confined to prison the entire season, Margo could only look on helplessly as her old friend Aleida (Coral Peña) found herself trapped in the middle of the struggle on the Titan. Try though she might, the once-mighty Director of NASA was reduced to fruistlessly calling in favors and not even getting a scrap of information in return. But what she did receive was the confirmation that Aleida was her family, and their fates were emotionally tied together.

ScreenRant interviewed Schmidt about how the strong bond between Margo and Aleida became her lynchpin in For All Mankind season 5, how Graciana’s visit in the season 5 finale affected Margo, and which unanswered question she still has going into the show’s final season.

How Wrenn Smchidt Made Peace With Margo’s For All Mankind Season 5 Storyline

ScreenRant: Seeing Margo’s interactions with Aleida this season have been so lovely. How do you characterize that dynamic now? What do they mean to each other?

Wrenn Schmidt: Aleida is her family, and it’s fa amily that she found in an unexpected way. Margo was someone who was always about work from the beginning and was somewhat estranged from her immediate family, but Wernher von Braun was really her chosen family. I think once there was that big schism, she just buried herself in work, and that felt like enough or like what she wanted to do.

One of the things that’s been really interesting throughout every season is just that, more and more, Margo has realized, “Actually, I do need people.” She’s not very good at saying that she needs people or wants close relationships with people, but I think she realizes she does. I kind of love that it feels like, in our story, that really creeps up on her.

In fact, the dynamic between Margo and Aleida was so key in season 5 that it helped Schmidt better understand her character’s trajectory, despite how unusual and unexpected her current situation was.

By the time we get to the fifth season, one of the things that I both struggled with but also ultimately made peace with and had a good time trying to tease out, was that I’d always been able to hang on to who Margo is now in relationship to her work and her position. And in season 5, that’s gone. She’s not in NASA anymore. She’s not trying to be a part of a space program. She’s stuck.

I actually thought that was one of the more interesting things about her this season. At first, it took me a long way to find my way in, and then ultimately I realized that when we see Margo in the show, a lot of it has to do with the fact that Aleida’s her family now. She looks forward to seeing Aleida so much; it’s such a highlight. I think pretty much from when Aleida leaves, there’s this unconscious mental clock in her head for when she’s going to be back again.

In the meantime, she entertains herself with all kinds of different things that she never had before when she was working. I think that’s the big surprise of Margo’s life: “I need people, and Aleida’s my person.”

ScreenRant: Graciana coming to Margo in the finale feels like such a big moment for her. How does Margo feel about Aleida potentially being in danger, and about the fact that Graciana reached out at all? Did she feel more helpless or hopeful?

Wrenn Schmidt: I think she felt a lot of confusion, because she doesn’t have any of the tools that she would’ve been able to rely on in the past. Maybe there was a fair amount of fear. “You’ve come to me for help, and I don’t think I can help you. I actually don’t think there’s anything that I can do. Nobody’s going to respond to my phone calls.”

Literally, her hands are tied, and that’s a pretty uncomfortable position to be in when you’re used to being able to solve a problem. I think she’s mostly surprised and confused and kind of afraid. When you’ve always been someone who’s had agency, not having it anymore is a really intense thing.

For All Mankind’s Wrenn Schmidt Reveals Secret Hope For Season 6

ScreenRant: What can you tease, if anything, about the final season? What do you expect or hope for Margo and the show at large, and how do you feel about the fact that it’s ending on its own terms?

Wrenn Schmidt: I think it’s great that the show has another season and that the writers will get to wrap things up for the audience and the fans, but my handlers are listening, so I’m not saying anything about anything!

ScreenRant: Is there any question you still have about Margo that you would like to see answered?

Wrenn Schmidt: I think there were always times that I wondered about what Margo was like outside of NASA. She literally almost moves into NASA, but I would’ve loved to have seen little, tiny snippets of who she was outside of work. I always thought that there was so much opportunity for humor in that.

I joke around a lot with our showrunners, Matt and Ben, that I think Margo’s a tap dancer. Maybe she’s a pretty bad tap dancer, but she really loves to tap dance aggressively. But that would’ve been the thing that I would’ve loved to have seen: Margo outside of NASA. Who did she know? Who were her neighbors? So, maybe we see her tap dancing in season 6!

Check out our previous season 5 interviews here:

Release Date

2019 – 2027-00-00

Network

Apple TV

Showrunner

Ronald D. Moore

Directors

Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, Andrew Stanton, Meera Menon, Dan Liu, Allen Coulter, Craig Zisk, Dennie Gordon, John Dahl, Lukas Ettlin, Wendey Stanzler, Seth Gordon, Sylvain White, Michael Morris, Maja Vrvilo, Sarah Boyd

Writers

Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, Ben Nedivi, Bradley Thompson, David Weddle, Nichole Beattie, Joe Menosky