Apple TV’s new sci-fi thriller Star City is now streaming, launching today with its first two episodes. The series expands the world of For All Mankind with an alternate-history story told from the Soviet perspective, exploring the space race from behind the Iron Curtain.
Set within the same ambitious timeline as For All Mankind, Star City goes back to the moment when the Soviet Union became the first nation to put a man on the moon. This time, however, the focus shifts to the cosmonauts, engineers and intelligence officers working inside the Soviet space programme, where ambition, paranoia and political pressure all appear to play a major role.
Rhys Ifans, Anna Maxwell Martin and Agnes O’Casey lead the cast, with Alice Englert, Solly McLeod, Adam Nagaitis, Ruby Ashbourne Serkis, Josef Davies and Priya Kansara also starring. The eight-episode series comes from For All Mankind creators Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert and Ronald D. Moore, with new episodes set to arrive weekly after today’s two-part launch.
For CultureCues, Star City looks like exactly the kind of spin-off that can justify its existence. Rather than simply extending the original series, it appears to be opening up a darker, more politically charged corner of the same world, giving viewers a fresh angle on the space race while keeping that big alternate-history hook intact. If you have been missing For All Mankind, this looks ready to fill that space-shaped hole immediately.
Star City is streaming now on Apple TV.
Nikki Murray is a UK-based writer, screenwriter and founder & editor of CultureCues, covering film, television, music and pop culture. Her work focuses on storytelling and the moments shaping modern entertainment.