Entertainment
‘For All Mankind’s First Official Spin-Off ‘Star City’ Is a Tense, Gripping Spy Thriller
I have a confession to make: I’m a latecomer to For All Mankind. While I’ve long believed that Apple TV is one of the best streamers out there in terms of its full-throated embrace of the sci-fi genre, the truth is that I’ve been forced to take my time working through its streaming library. I’ve watched every episode of shows like Murderbot and Severance, and I’ll bang the drum all day in praise of Pluribus, but I somehow overlooked Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi‘s alt-history sci-fi drama until the weeks leading up to its Season 5 premiere. (For what it’s worth, though, For All Mankind makes for an excellent binge, albeit a stressful one, in which you often find yourself shouting at the screen over certain Baldwins and their occasionally questionable decision-making.) Not only is the show a fascinating examination of how a specific turning point in global history can have ripple effects that span generations, but it’s also an emotional character drama consisting of absolutely laudable performances.
Now that I’m fully caught up (and yes, that includes this week’s Season 5 finale), I had more than one reason to be drawn in by the premise of Star City. Apple TV’s first official For All Mankind spin-off jumps back in time to the historical divergence depicted in the original series’ first episode, in which the Soviets successfully beat the United States to the achievement of a crewed Moon landing. It’s an intriguing foundation for a series on its own, as For All Mankind previously proved, but where Star City differentiates itself isn’t just in answering some of the biggest questions surrounding the Soviet space program, but in embracing a completely different genre to do so.
What Is ‘Star City’ About?
As the show’s title indicates, Star City is set in the designated headquarters for the Soviet space program, but its story begins at the same place as For All Mankind, with cosmonaut Alexei Leonov’s Moon landing, which sees Russia’s decisive victory over the U.S. in a major lunar achievement. At the head of it all is a man only known as the Chief Designer (Rhys Ifans), both for his personal safety and as an effort to safeguard the space program, the exposure of which could have deadly ramifications. Despite constant oversight and interference, the Chief Designer has secret aspirations to carry out a wholly different space mission, but it won’t be possible without a little help from a few unlikely allies, including young engineer Sergei Nikulov (Josef Davies) and recruited scientist Lakshmi (Priya Kansara).
It’s quickly established that Star City has a very different approach to protecting its secrets, with the upper echelons of the KGB willing to resort to covert and invasive methods to monitor anyone and everyone, regardless of where their loyalties actually lie. KGB head Lyudmilla Raskova (Anna Maxwell Martin) rules over the surveillance pool with an iron fist, while new hire Irina Morozova (Agnes O’Casey) wrestles with the undeniably invasive nature of her job alongside her greater professional ambitions.
Apple TV Is Officially Launching ‘For All Mankind’s First Spin-Off This Month
Watch a completely different side of the space race.
No one is immune to Star City’s intelligence-gathering, not even the young cosmonauts who are dutifully completing their training in the hopes of making it into space. Valya Markelov (Adam Nagaitis) is the program’s most respected cosmonaut, but his wife, Tanya (Ruby Ashbourne Serkis), chafes against Star City’s restrictions. Meanwhile, Sasha Polivanov (Solly McLeod) could stand to take his role as cosmonaut more seriously, but things change once he’s paired up with a familiar name to For All Mankind fans in Anastasia Belikova (Alice Englert), whose larger aspirations are often weighed against her relative inexperience.
‘Star City’ Pulls Back the Curtain on ‘For All Mankind’s Biggest Untold Story
Although For All Mankind has occasionally delved into the Soviet side of its narrative, chiefly through NASA engineer Margo Madison’s (Wrenn Schmidt) tragically complex storyline, Star City finds itself in the unique position to expand on some of the original series’ most pivotal moments surrounding the initial space race. Some characters will instantly be familiar to longtime fans, but there’s a thrill that comes from watching this depiction of their most defining years, especially when they’re written this well. O’Casey and Davies may have the biggest hurdles to overcome in terms of portraying Star City‘s most recognizable names, but they both deftly rise to meet the challenge; Davies, in particular, bears such a striking resemblance to original actor Piotr Adamczyk that I recognized Sergei even before he was introduced explicitly by name. Englert has the responsibility of building out one of For All Mankind‘s least-defined characters, and it’s a treat to watch her excavate Belikova’s layers as she faces the difficulties of being one of the only female cosmonauts in a male-dominated field.
Other cast members responsible for depicting the show’s completely original characters lend Star City even more of its intrigue. Ifans, who once again joins an existing franchise spin-off, approaches the role of the enigmatic Chief Designer with potent cunning and charm, while Martin is equal parts chilling and riveting as a KGB department head who seemingly answers to no one. Nagaitis’ Valya could easily earn comparisons to his most infamous role on AMC’s The Terror, but the actor unearths new levels of desperation to make the cosmonaut more sympathetic than Hickey ever was. It’s likely no coincidence that some of Nagaitis’ best scenes occur opposite his onscreen spouse, especially once both husband and wife start to feel the pressure of Star City’s constant supervision; the glimpses we earn of Tanya’s more free-spirited and rebellious nature are confirmation that Serkis was the perfect choice for the role. One of the biggest questions I was left with while watching, however, had more to do with the spin-off’s lack of any distinct Russian accents; Star City‘s cast mostly embraces a generic English cadence, which does serve as a notable departure from For All Mankind‘s approach.
‘Star City’ Is a Completely Different Change of Pace for the ‘For All Mankind’ Franchise
The new opening credits of Star City make one thing clear: this is a very different show — not merely in the story’s focus and tone, but also in the series’ aesthetic. There’s a distinctly grainier, grittier look to the spin-off’s scenes that immediately sets it apart; some of that is certainly in large part due to the setting itself, with its austere and minimalist architecture calling a very specific time and place to mind. It honestly might feel jarring to be plunged into Star City‘s ’60s Cold War era, with very little warmth to speak of in its palette, especially if you’re caught up with For All Mankind as a sci-fi epic that has evolved far beyond its current 2010s timeline. While its darker cinematography can occasionally tip too far into streaming television’s biggest struggle, rendering some scenes difficult to decipher, it’s also instantly immersive as a backdrop.
Given that the Soviet space program was also historically shrouded in secrecy, it makes perfect sense for the majority of Star City‘s storylines to deal in that very theme, and the result is a successful pivot into full spy thriller territory. Watching the first five episodes provided for review calls the very best parts of FX’s The Americans to mind, especially with Star City‘s emphasis on the cost of deception and how increasingly stacking lies can culminate disastrously, not just for those directly involved but for their closest loved ones as well.
An equally transfixing element can be found in the series’ depiction of surveillance work and how surprisingly intimate it can be for someone like Irina, for instance, to listen in on every single second of another person’s day-to-day life, combing through audio recordings for even the slightest whiff of political treachery. By the time Irina comes face-to-face with the individual she’s been monitoring, it’s a delicious instance of internal drama that revolves around her juggling her knowledge of their secrets against the facade they choose to present to the world. Once Irina’s personal truths are also exposed, it doubles as a reminder that even the characters we thought we knew best from For All Mankind all had to start somewhere.
The best decision Star City makes isn’t to copy or mimic what came before on the original series, but to carve out a completely separate path within the overall franchise. There are still sequences that unmistakably call the spin-off’s predecessor to mind, particularly when the story embraces those familiarly fraught space missions where everything can and will go wrong in a matter of seconds. However, Star City‘s distinct visuals, sharp performances, and compelling narrative that pulls back the curtain on the mysteries surrounding the Soviet position in the space race all combine for a spin-off that doesn’t necessarily need to match For All Mankind‘s longevity to be gripping in the moment.
Star City premieres May 29 with its first two episodes on Apple TV.
- Release Date
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May 29, 2026
- Network
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Apple TV
- Showrunner
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Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert
- Writers
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Megan McDonnell
Cast
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Anna Maxwell Martin
Lyudmilla
- The cast is full of standouts, from Rhys Ifans’ enigmatic Chief Designer to Anna Maxwell Martin’s chilling KGB head Lyudmilla.
- Agnes O’Casey and Josef Davies deliver terrific performances as the younger versions of For All Mankind’s Irina and Sergei.
- The show’s decision to embrace the spy thriller genre feels perfectly aligned to the story it’s telling.
- The stark difference in cinematography means that some scenes land just this side of too murky to be decipherable.
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