Apple TV’s new series is a bold new chapter inspired by the critically acclaimed space-race drama, “For All Mankind.” “Star City” is a propulsive paranoid thriller that takes us back to the key moment in the alt-history retelling of the space race — when the Soviet Union became the first nation to put a man on the moon. But this time, we explore the story from behind the Iron Curtain, showing the lives of the cosmonauts, the engineers and the intelligence officers embedded among them in the Soviet space program, and the risks they all took to propel humankind forward.
Louise Griffin for Radio Times:
Not all spin-offs are created equal. Some are terrible, others are good, and a select few prove better than the original show they are based on. It’s on that final list that Star City deserves a place.
The new cosmic Apple TV drama is a prequel to For All Mankind (season 5’s finale airs Friday 29 May). Part alternative history, part political thriller, it’s a gripping drama that explores what would have happened had the Soviet Union not only won the Space Race, but never stopped venturing out into the stars.
Worlds away from its parent show and led by powerhouses Anna Maxwell Martin (Motherland, Ludwig) and Rhys Ifans (House of the Dragon), creators Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert, and Ronald D Moore return for an intriguing dive into the secrecy and surveillance that defined the Soviet space program…
This is a much darker, grittier drama than For All Mankind ever was. Although no prior knowledge is needed of the latter, fans of the original show will be able to enjoy it on a deeper level… Star City is worlds away from For All Mankind – and is all the better for it.
MacDailyNews Take: Having loved early seasons of For All Mankind, we’re even more primed to visit Star City!
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