# The First (2018)

> The first crewed mission to Mars tests the astronauts, their families, and the ground team back on Earth.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/64483

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 8
- Episode runtime: 46 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: science fiction, drama
- Created by: Beau Willimon
- Network: Hulu
- Cast: Sean Penn, Natascha McElhone, Oded Fehr, Anna Jacoby-Heron, Hannah Ware, LisaGay Hamilton, Keiko Agena, James Ransone
- TMDB rating: 6.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7412482/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: slow
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: none
- Tone: somber, contemplative, tense, melancholic, intimate

## What critics say

Audiences find The First a earnest, ambitious sci-fi drama about a Mars mission whose human stakes land more than its speculative premise, though the rating is mixed.

## Synopsis

The First (2018) is an American near-future science fiction drama created by Beau Willimon for Hulu. Sean Penn plays Tom Haggerty, a mission figure at the center of the first human expedition to Mars, while Natascha McElhone as Laz Ingram and Oded Fehr as Eitan Hafri anchor the crew and planning side of the story. Its engine is the grinding human cost of interplanetary colonization: the strain of long separation, the pressure on the ground team coordinating every decision from Earth, and the fragile bonds between astronauts and the spouses and children who wait at home. Episodes move between the spacecraft, mission control, and domestic life, letting the logistics of the journey feel as personal as the emotional fallout. Across a single eight-episode season, the series builds a measured, intimate rhythm rather than spectacle. The tone is somber, contemplative, and quietly tense, with a melancholic undercurrent about ambition and sacrifice. Fans of For All Mankind and The Expanse will find resonance in its grounded approach to space exploration and its focus on the people behind the mission. The show was canceled after its one season, leaving its story unfinished, and it remains a contained, adult-oriented take on humanity's first steps beyond Earth.

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