Apple TV’s new drama Star City premieres tomorrow, 29 May, with the first two episodes arriving globally on the streamer. The eight-part series expands the world of For All Mankind, taking viewers behind the Iron Curtain for a Soviet perspective on the alternate-history space race.
Set around the key moment when the Soviet Union became the first nation to put a man on the moon, Star City shifts the story away from the American side of the mission. Instead, the series follows the cosmonauts, engineers and intelligence officers working inside the Soviet space programme, where the race to reach further into space comes with danger much closer to home.
The series stars Rhys Ifans, known for House of the Dragon, as the Chief Designer, the figure overseeing the Soviet space programme. Anna Maxwell Martin, whose credits include Motherland and Line of Duty, plays the head of KGB surveillance watching over Star City. The cast also includes Agnes O’Casey from Black Doves, Alice Englert, Solly McLeod, Adam Nagaitis, Ruby Ashbourne Serkis, Josef Davies and Priya Kansara.
Star City comes from For All Mankind creators Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert and Ronald D. Moore. Nedivi and Wolpert serve as showrunners and executive producers, alongside Moore, Maril Davis, Andrew Chambliss and Steve Oster. The series is produced for Apple TV by Sony Pictures Television.
For CultureCues, Star City sounds like a very strong next step for the For All Mankind universe. The original series already built an ambitious alternate version of space history, but moving the focus to the Soviet side gives this new drama a darker and more secretive edge. The mix of space-race ambition, Cold War pressure and KGB surveillance should give the series plenty of tension before anyone even leaves the ground.
The first two episodes of Star City premiere on Apple TV on 29 May, with new episodes streaming every Friday until 10 July. Watch the official trailer below.
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.