‘For All Mankind’ star Krys Marshall isn’t shying away from tackling women’s inequality and racism with ground-breaking Danielle Poole
AppleTV+ has premiered several critically acclaimed shows since its initial launch November 1 and while 'The Morning Show' has been securing headlines for its strong female-driven cast, another show is breaking boundaries on several levels -- 'For All Mankind'. The show, created by Ronald D. Moore of Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica fame, was billed as an alternate history where “the global space race never ended” as the U.S.S.R. is the first to successfully land a manned spacecraft on the moon, instead of the U.S.
The show, however, took an unexpected turn as the focus shifted to the female NASA employees, highlighting gender inequality in the late 1960’s. The show also delves into racial tensions of the era and encapsulates both brilliantly with one character -- Danielle Poole played by Krys Marshall.
On the show, the character is both the first African-American astronaut of NASA and the first woman to command a U.S. space mission. MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) reporter Alana Jordan sat down with the actress to discuss her boundary-breaking role and Marshall revealed she initially did not even know what she was auditioning for, much less the fact that her character would become such a central part of the story.
“When I started this whole process, it came to me sort of abruptly. I actually was brought in […] for a different show,” she said. After her audition for a completely different type of character for an entirely different show, the casting directors asked: “Do you have a second to read this role about NASA.”
After reading and loving the script, she did her cold read, then “found out that that night I was pinned, the next day I found out I booked it, then the day after that I was on set.” When fans found out Danielle was selected to go to the moon, they were delighted by the surprise, and it turns out Marshall herself was equally surprised and delighted after having discovered the huge plot point from an unexpected source -- the costume department!
“Our producers are very good at keeping everything tight-lipped, and we don’t know why that is, but they don’t let us know anything until they absolutely need us to. And so I discovered that I would be going to the moon when the costume department had to hire the folks to make the costume and to pull it all together. So that’s when I was like, ‘What?! You’ve got to be kidding me!” she added.
Her character has also been upgraded to series regular for the second season, which has already begun filming. With Danielle’s character being explored in even more depth, we’re sure we will see more revolutionary accomplishments from the inspirational fan-favorite, and Marshall isn’t shying away from the responsibility.
“It’s such a fun role to play, and I love our cast. We have a blast together, but knowing that I’m breaking ground in telling this story and telling the story of a female astronaut, a black female astronaut, I know I have a lot of responsibility on my shoulders, but I think I can handle it,” Marshall promised.
'For All Mankind' airs Fridays on AppleTV+.
