When For All Mankind premiered, it was clear that this was an alternate history series. The whole premise was “what if the Soviets got to the moon first.” We’ve seen how that has led to the development of technology and different types of space races since then throughout the four seasons of the series so far.
The recent seasons have taken us behind the Iron Curtain. With Margo “defecting” to the Soviet Union, we got to see what life is like there. We also got to see some of the minds behind the Soviet Space Program.
Now it’s time to see more. Apple has ordered a For All Mankind spin-off series, and it takes us back to the 1960s.
What we know about the For All Mankind spin-off series
The series is titled Star City, according to TVLine. Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi have created this new series, but Wolpert and Nedivi will serve as co-showrunners on the series. They have taken over the day-to-day showrunning duties on the OG series as well, with Moore still in the background running things from there.
Star City will take us back to the 1960s. It’s the time of the first Space Race, as America and the Soviets go head to head to put the first man on the moon. In For All Mankind, we know that the Soviet Union manages it, just after the launch of Apollo 10. It leads to NASA focusing on putting the first woman on the moon and then on a mission to Mars and beyond.
While we know the American side of things, it’s time to head behind the Iron Curtain. What work did go into putting the first man on the moon for the Soviets? What was the engineering capabilities, and where did the cosmonauts and the engineers live and work on a daily basis? What was the journey to the moon like for everyone? That’s something to learn.
When can we expect Star City?
It’s hard to say when we could see this series. It is plausible for it to arrive toward the end of 2025, but we could be looking at 2026 at this point.
Period dramas take months to film and then there are more months to get through post-production. This one has a lot of CGI on top of that traditional period drama CGI of taking out gutters and other modern-day elements to the streets. The show has only just been ordered, so the pre-work will need to happen as well. We’ll likely see For All Mankind Season 5 first.
Star City will arrive on Apple TV+.