For All Mankind may well be Apple‘s best science fiction series. The show reimagined the space race through an alternate-history American lens, and captured the imagination of viewers. But how did the other side handle it? Set behind the Iron Curtain in the 1970s, the series explores the Soviet space program at the pivotal moment when the USSR became the first nation to land a man on the moon in this alternate timeline. But instead of focusing solely on the triumph, Star City digs into the lives of cosmonauts, engineers, and intelligence officers embedded within the program — and the staggering risks they took. And now, we have our first look.
Today, Apple unveiled the first images of Star City, the highly anticipated new drama from award-winning creators Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert, and Ronald D. Moore. While it exists within the universe of For All Mankind, this new series promises something very different — and far more paranoid. The eight-episode thriller will debut globally on May 29, launching with two episodes, followed by weekly installments through July 10.
The cast is stacked with international talent, including Rhys Ifans, Anna Maxwell Martin, Agnes O’Casey, Alice Englert, Solly McLeod, Adam Nagaitis, Ruby Ashbourne Serkis, Josef Davies, and Priya Kansara.
What Can We Expect From ‘Star City’?
Despite sharing DNA with For All Mankind, the creators have been clear: Star City is not a mirror image. Last year at SDCC, talking to Collider‘s Steve Weintraub, Wolpert and Nedivi described the show as more of a spy thriller than a traditional space drama, leaning into paranoia, secrecy, and political tension. Unlike For All Mankind, which leaps forward roughly a decade each season, Star City intends to remain rooted in the 1970s — preserving the texture and stakes of that era.
“We really wanted it to be its own show,” Wolpert has explained, noting they didn’t want it to simply reflect the mothership series.
“So, keeping it in that 1970s, behind the Iron Curtain, and telling those stories, it’s really, more than anything, like a spy thriller. It’s really a different genre of TV show, almost. It’s very different than For All Mankind. We really went out of our way to make it feel different.”
More than that, the creators are insisting you won’t believe half the stories you hear — but all of them are true.
“Honestly, the stories are incredible. They’re insane. They’re hard to believe. I mean, I guarantee you’ll be watching the first few episodes of Star City, going, ‘That can’t be true,’ and then looking it up and going, ‘No, it is true.’ So much of what we did is based on actual stories that have happened, but so few people know about them. So, I think that gave us, honestly, a little more fuel to tell the story. To be frank, we miss a little bit working in the period piece ‘70s of For All of Mankind. The further it’s gone, it’s become more sci-fi, so for Matt and I, from a writing standpoint, being able to dip our toes back into the past, into the ‘70s, I think gave us a little creative energy to really be able to pull this off.”
Star City will debut globally on May 29, launching with two episodes, followed by weekly installments through July 10.
via Collider