Get ready to watch 'Star City' and see the alternative-history space race from behind the Iron Curtain.
Everyone is familiar with NASA's Apollo Program and its endeavor to land the first person on the lunar surface when Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong took one small step for a man on July 20, 1969. But Apple TV's "For All Mankind" gave us a look into an alternative history version of the historic mission, one where Russia landed on the moon first, and the Space Race accelerated further than true-life events transpired.
Now we're headed over to Star City, the Soviet Union’s secret cosmonaut training city located just an hour outside Moscow, to see how this fictional feat was accomplished by the forbidden city’s population of cosmonauts, security thugs, scientists, engineers, aerospace aces, KGB operatives, and double-agent spies.
With "For All Mankind" season 5's finale airing this week, it’s time to switch sides to "Star City" and learn how the USSR beat the Americans at their own game despite oppression, near-disasters, sabotage, love triangles, paranoia, and some really bland food.
Let’s brave the Cold War chill, comrades, and march right into Apple TV's "Star City!"
When does "Star City" come out?
The debut season of "Star City" starts on May 29, 2026 for its first 8-episode outing at 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET), with the initial two chapters titled "The Eyes" and "A Bear on a Chain" kicking things off.
Subsequent weekly episodes will arrive each Friday until the season finale is broadcast on July 10, 2026.
How To Watch "Star City's" Inaugural Season?
"Star City" and its dark espionage saga, paired with harsh life inside the Soviet space program’s clandestine headquarters encircled by concrete and razor wire, can be seen exclusively on the Apple TV streaming platform, along with all five seasons of the original "For All Mankind" flagship series from which it was spawned.
If you're going to be out of the country when the show debuts, you can still watch it on your streaming service of choice using a VPN. You'll be able to connect to your streaming services, no matter where you are on Earth (though it won't work on Mars, sorry).
What Is The Plot Of "Star City?"
More than just a Space Race story set in the early 1970s when the Cold War was still heating up, "Star City" is actually closer to a classic Hollywood spy thriller with the Soviets' secret cosmonaut training base at the core of the tense (and often quite violent) new series.
In many ways, Apple TV's advertising campaign sums it up perfectly with the truthful motto that "as dangerous as it is in space, it's more dangerous on the ground." It's grim, cold, calculating, severe, and humorless, exhibiting an authentic peek into the Soviet side of human spaceflight.
"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," states the official synopsis.
"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 took to propel humankind forward."
"Star City" Teasers And Trailers
The first bleak teaser dropped on Mar. 25, and opens on a b&w TV broadcast of a Soviet lunar landing, accompanied by the voice of cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who becomes the first man to walk on the Moon.
A montage of images from the heart of Star City proceeds to paint austere conditions and the constantly unsettling setting in a forested town not on any map to see how it was all accomplished.
A second full trailer arrived April 23, and begins with an abrupt wakeup by Lyudmilla Raskova, the KGB’s security chief in Star City, dragging a frightened woman out of bed, then sets the stage for the unnerving paranoid environment that exists within the Chief Designer's space program and the Soviets' solemn desire to keep beating the Americans.
Electronic bugs are installed, secretaries listen in on every phone call and conversation, and rock 'n roll is banned in this cruel culture of absolute secrecy.
Who Are The "Star City" Cast And Creators?
"Star City" is truly blessed with an outstanding ensemble cast of international actors that rivals the impressive assembly of talent seen in "For All Mankind." And that's not really a surprise since the spinoff series was conceived by Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert, and Ronald D. Moore, the same competent creative team behind its Emmy-winning sister series, "For All Mankind."
The show is headlined by "House of the Dragon's" Rhys Ifans as Chief Designer, a character patterned after real-life Soviet space chief Sergei Korolev, and "Motherland's" Anna Maxwell-Martin portraying the emotionless KGB security boss Col. Lyudmilla Raskova.
"Star City's" killer cast also includes Agnes O’Casey, Alice Englert, Priya Kansara, Solly McLeod, Adam Nagaitis, Ruby Ashbourne Serkis, and Josef Davies.
