For All Mankind Spinoff Reveals Soviet Focus
Apple TV+ has released first-look images from *Star City*, the spinoff of alternate history sci-fi drama *For All Mankind*. The series will explore the Soviet cosmonaut program's inner workings during the Cold War space race from the other side of the Iron Curtain. The production values and character focus suggest a continuation of the franchise's signature blend of speculative history and character-driven drama.
The new series hails from the same creators as *For All Mankind*: Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi, with Wolpert and Nedivi serving as showrunners. Described as a "propulsive, paranoid thriller," the show will delve into the lives of cosmonauts, engineers, and intelligence officers within the secretive Soviet space program. *Star City* is scheduled to premiere globally on Apple TV+ with its first two episodes on May 29, 2026, followed by a weekly release schedule for its eight-episode season. The parent show, *For All Mankind*, has been renewed for a fifth season, which is set to premiere on March 27, 2026. The cast features Rhys Ifans (*House of the Dragon*) as the Chief Designer of the Soviet space program and Anna Maxwell Martin (*Motherland*) as the head of KGB surveillance at Star City. They are joined by actors including Adam Nagaitis (*Chernobyl*), Solly McLeod (*House of the Dragon*), and Ruby Ashbourne Serkis. The series takes its name from the real-life Star City, or Zvyozdny Gorodok, a highly secret military facility established in the 1960s northeast of Moscow. This is where the Soviet Union and later Russia have trained all their cosmonauts at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. In the alternate timeline of *For All Mankind*, the pivotal point of divergence is Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov becoming the first human to walk on the Moon in June 1969. This event fuels a prolonged and intensified space race, forcing the United States to play catch-up and leading to the establishment of rival moon bases, Jamestown (U.S.) and Zvezda (USSR).
