Apple TV+'s For All Mankind was part of the platform's launch package in 2019, and the show has been so successful that it's getting its own spinoff called Star City. The show will be set within the same universe as For All Mankind, but will focus on the Space Race from the Soviet Union's point of view rather than than that of the Americans.
Most details about Star City have been kept under wraps for now, but some information is gradually being made available. While the original plan for Star City has been altered slightly, the general premise remains the same. With any luck, Star City will follow For All Mankind into the category of best sci-fi shows on Apple TV+.
For All Mankind season 5 is on the way, and co-creator Matt Wolpert explained in a 2023 interview with Den of Geek that the show's roadmap was seven seasons long. While For All Mankind isn't quite as popular as other Apple TV+ sci-fi shows, like Severance or Silo, its creative premise has still allowed it to gather a devoted following that would love to see that seven-season vision come to fruition.
Neither For All Mankind season 5 or Star City season 1 has a confirmed release date as of yet. So, all eyes are on the franchise to find out when the larger story will continue or be fleshed out even further by acknowledging the Russians' perspective. Until then, we're left to dwell on the scraps of information about what each project will look like, and exactly how or if they'll cross over with each other.
Star City season 1 will be set alongside For All Mankind season 1
The biggest turning point in For All Mankind is the Russians' victory over the Americans as the first country to successfully land a man on the moon. Until that moment, it's reasonable to assume that the show's timeline is identical to real life. When the Russians win the Space Race, all of that changes. The Americans take their loss personally, and a more drawn-out and intense version of the Space Race drives immense innovation on both sides and around the world.
So, it makes sense that Star City will also feature this landmark victory in 1969, but then stick with the Russians to witness their basking in the glow of beating the Americans to the moon. While there is a time-jump of roughly ten years at the end of every season of For All Mankind, the rest of season 1's story is fairly linear and continues into the 1970s.
Star City co-creator and showrunner Ronald D. Moore has confirmed in a CinemaBlend interview that the spinoff's first season will indeed unfold mostly in the 1970s. Similar to For All Mankind's first outing, Star City season 1 will also chronicle how the Space Race's alternate victor changes the Soviet Union in the immediate fallout of its victory over the Americans. That said, Moore is aware that "American audiences won't quite understand the dramatic changes that are taking place so quickly," which already adds a new layer to the spinoff that wasn't present in the parent show.
Star City probably won't prioritize time-jumps like For All Mankind
One of For All Mankind's biggest appeals is its generational storytelling. The sizable time jump at the end of each season allows audiences to see further and further into the characters' futures in a way that is tricky for other shows to pull off. This narrative mechanic also opens the door to fresh faces each season as a new wave of characters make their debuts on the show. Despite being part of the same franchise, it doesn't sound like Star City will follow in For All Mankind's footsteps in this respect.
In the same CinemaBlend interview where Moore explained that audiences will get to see how the Soviet Union changes after their Space Race triumph, he also said that "getting familiar" with Russia in the 1970s will be one of Star City's biggest focuses. This implies that, unlike For All Mankind, Star City won't be in a hurry to move on at the end of season 1.
To me, this suggests that Star City won't just be showing a new perspective of existing For All Mankind events, but also huge portions of the timeline that have never been shown in any form. I wouldn't rule out the occasional time jump here and there, but I also don't expect them to be more than a few years. Similarly, I doubt Star City will venture far beyond the 1970s, or at the very least, it'll never catch up to For All Mankind. An unfortunate result of this potential creative move is that some characters who didn't show up until much later in the main show are far less likely to cross over into Star City.
Star City could be even less sci-fi than For All Mankind
For All Mankind is billed as a sci-fi show, but it's right on the boundary of the genre. I see it as more of an alt-history drama, but its formula does allow certain sci-fi tropes to sneak into the mix. For example, losing the Space Race brings in a new age of technological innovations from NASA and related bodies, which has a trickledown effect onto the rest of America. It's subtle, but things like cars and phones are more advanced than they should be in the decades that follow the Russians landing on the moon.
Most saliently, humanity has communities on the Moon and Mars in For All Mankind, and the show still hasn't caught up with the present day. I know that makes it sound more like sci-fi than ever, but it all feels so grounded in real science that it really doesn't feel all that fantastical. For Star City, this strange dissonance could be even more pronounced.
By the end of For All Mankind season 4, the show feels the most sci-fi it has to date, but it took a long time to get to that point. In the 1970s, the subtle changes to everyday life hadn't had time to develop, so the same will likely be true when viewed through the Russians' eyes in Star City. With the possibility of Star City never moving past the 1970s in any significant way, the sci-fi-influenced tech that's present in For All Mankind may never get the chance the show up in the upcoming spinoff.