Star City | Bookshelf Fantasies

After binging my way through five seasons of For All Mankind on AppleTV, I wasn’t quite ready to leave that alternate history / science fiction world… and fortunately, I didn’t have to. This year, AppleTV introduced a spin-off series, Star City, which covers roughly the time period of For All Mankind‘s first season — but with a very different focus and tone.

In For All Mankind, the space race is presented from the perspective of NASA and its astronauts, in an alternate version of history where the Soviets reached the moon first. Star City takes us into the heart of the Soviet Union’s space program, going back to the moon landing and the years following it, but taking place primarily within the USSR and its high-security facility (Star City) where scientists and cosmonauts live and work.

In its eight-episode first season, Star City introduces us to a fascinating mix of characters, from the Chief Designer — an inspired, inspirational engineer who dreams big and shows an idealism that can’t be broken — to KGB enforcer Colonel Roskova, up-and-coming spy Irina Morozova, engineer Sergei Nikulov, and a group of absolutely compelling (and often heartbreaking) cosmonauts. (And for For All Mankind viewers, it’s both gratifying and disconcerting to see younger versions of certain familiar characters here in Star City.)

It’s remarkable how much tension, drama, character development, and overall plot complexity this show manages to fit into such a limited batch of episodes. Well-crafted dialogue and set pieces draw viewers in and create a sense of investment in each character’s story arc.

Star City is a far bleaker viewing experience than For All Mankind — not surprising, given its setting in the Soviet era, where every move is monitored and consequences are dire. Engineering errors and unsuccessful missions don’t only lead to debrief analyses — they can also result in banishment to a gulag or worse. What seems at first glance to be a steno pool of secretaries is actually the surveillance team — row after row of women listening to and transcribing recordings from the homes of seemingly every cosmonaut and scientist in Star City.

For All Mankind‘s hallmark is a mix of edge-of the-seat space moments and compelling character stories, and Star City delivers both. The grim tone makes for a challenging viewing experience at the start, especially for those who expect more of the uplifting moments that For All Mankind also provides. As the series progresses, it becomes more and more absorbing and impossible to look away from, and the sense of constant menace hanging over every moment ratchets up the tension from episode to episode.

There’s no announcement yet about whether there will be a season 2. I hope there will be. Season 1 ends spectacularly, and I’m dying to know what’s next for these characters… but the final moments are depicted in such a way that if we’re left to draw our own conclusions, I’ll still be satisfied with the series.

Star City could work on its own, but I do recommend watching it after For All Mankind (or at a minimum, FAM‘s 1st season) for context and grounding in the alternate history world it presents. While I didn’t love seasons 4 and 5 of For All Mankind as much as the earlier seasons, overall it’s a phenomenal series, and I highly recommend both For All Mankind and Star City. They’re absolutely worth it!