The show, co-created by Greg Daniels and Steve Carell, follows the escapades of the United States Space Force in a workplace comedy that explores everything from botched missions to the moon to the tense diplomatic relationship between the U.S. and China.
But it’s the show’s Season 2 finale that featured the most surprising revelation. Here is everything you need to know about how the show ended.
Warning: This article contains spoilers from Space Force Season 2
‘Space Force’ Season 2 Ending Explained
Space Force Season 2 takes place three months after the dramatic events that closed the first season, which saw the U.S.’s mission to the moon sabotaged with Captain Angela Ali (Tawny Newsome) and her crew all but stranded after astronauts from China damaged their base.
Luckily, the crew made it safely back and the season follows them dealing with the aftermath of the mission, including avoiding telling the public exactly what happened between the U.S. and the Chinese Space Force.
Despite returning successfully, the mission to the moon impacted Captain Ali’s mental health and prompted her to want to leave the Space Force entirely and return home to Hawaii.
A heartfelt letter from Carell’s General Mark Naird persuades Captain Ali not to do that, and she accepts a promotion to become a Major.
In the final moments of the last episode, General Naird joins the newly minted Major and the Space Force team at their command center, where he announces they are now becoming a part of the American Strategic Defense Plan.
The new role means they have been given sole access to the Hawaii telescope, but unfortunately this proves to not be the win they thought it would be because when they look through the viewfinder they make a grim discovery.
They learn a large asteroid is hurtling straight toward Earth, and the shell-shocked Space Force team reacts by singing the Beach Boys’ “Kokomo” in response to the stressful situation as the credits roll.
Netflix viewers might be tempted to see the link between Space Force and the streaming platform’s hit film Don’t Look Up.
The Adam McKay flick saw astronomy doctoral candidate Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) and professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) desperately try to convince humanity to stop an asteroid from colliding with Earth.
Unfortunately, no one wants to believe the doom that the duo predicts and, despite their warnings, they all but ignore the asteroid and instead try to find a way to monetize it and enter into a new space race with China and Russia.
Rivalry With China and Russia
The final moments of Space Force Season 2 appear to set up a similar concept to the film, especially given the show has focused on the U.S.’s rivalry with Russia and China regarding their respective Space Forces since Season 1.
There are also similarities between the leader in Space Force and Don’t Look Up since President Donald Trump appears to be in the former, though it is not expressly said that the leader is indeed the 45th U.S. President, and Meryl Streep’s POTUS in Don’t Look Up is inspired by him.
As such, if Space Force were to be renewed for a third season it seems it would deal with a similar concept to Don’t Look Up, with the team dealing with a U.S. President unwilling to heed their warnings.
However, despite the obvious links between the two storylines, it shouldn’t be said that Space Force Season 2 and Don’t Look Up are one and the same, it just seems that the writers for both had a similar idea.
Whether Space Force would follow up its asteroid reveal with a plot that is close to the one featured in Don’t Look Up is yet to be seen.
What Showrunner Greg Daniels Has Said about ‘Space Force’ Season 2’s Ending
Greg Daniels, the showrunner and creator of Space Force, spoke to Newsweek about the similarities between his show and Adam McKay’s film, explaining that because they are both dealing with space there was bound to be some unplanned overlap.
“I was surprised to know that that project was out there,” Daniels told Newsweek. “But, I think that the reality of [if] you do something about space… I mean, when you think about what some big topics to write in the show about [are, there will be similarities].
“Like, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we premiered and also at the same time Avenue 5 [another space-based comedy] came out, and there was an awful lot of dramatic movies about space and stuff. It’s a very exciting topic and it is affecting the world because we are putting more stuff into space, more satellites, and more expansion is actually happening, right?
“So, when you look at all of the various, sort of cool science-y things you could write about… and then when you talk about space, well, one of the things that Space Force needs to do is protect the world from an asteroid.
“I mean, we had a lot of other topics in Season 2, such as the Russians hacking Space Force… there’s a bunch of things, like every episode is trying to have some kind of story that’s unique to that episode.
“And so the ending was just like, ‘how do we kind of throw forward?’ They thought they were in good shape, but uh, oh there’s a new challenge coming. So that was that.”
Space Force Seasons 1 and 2 are available to watch on Netflix now.
Update 02.28.22 at 11.18 a.m. EST: This article was updated to include Greg Daniels’ interview with Newsweek.
