Star City is an American alternate history science fiction drama television series created by Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert, and Ronald D. Moore for Apple TV. It is a spin-off of For All Mankind with a focus on the Soviet Union. The name comes from the home of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Star City. The series premiered on May 29, 2026.
Contents
Cast
Main
Rhys Ifans as Sergei Korolev, referred to as the Chief Designer, the driving force behind the Soviet space program. The character was portrayed by Endre Hules in For All Mankind.
Anna Maxwell Martin as Lyudmilla Raskova, the head of the KGB surveillance department at Star City
Agnes O'Casey as Irina Morozova, a recent addition to the surveillance department at Star City. The character was portrayed by Svetlana Efremova in For All Mankind.
Alice Englert as Anastasia Belikova, an untested female cosmonaut in the Soviet space program. The character was portrayed by Rita Khrabrovitsky in For All Mankind.
Solly McLeod as Sasha Polivanov, a reckless cosmonaut who has yet to live up to his potential
Adam Nagaitis as Valya Mironov, a highly respected cosmonaut within the Soviet space program
Ruby Ashbourne Serkis as Tanya Mironova, a cosmonaut's wife who struggles within the confined world of Star City
Josef Davies as Sergei Nikulov, a young, brilliant engineer who works at Soviet Ground Control. The character was portrayed by Piotr Adamczyk in For All Mankind.
Priya Kansara as Lakshmi Chadha, a gifted life-support system scientist and engineer from India who was invited to work at Star City
Recurring
David Dencik as Maxim Tarasov, the deputy chairman of the Communist Party for Star City
Eliot Salt as Vika Yegorova, Irina's colleague in the KGB transcription section
Sam Strike as Pavel Fetisov, a cosmonaut and the Luna 17 orbiter pilot
Ian Midlane as Mikhail, an engineer tasked for the Venus mission
Hannah Steele as Ekaterina, an undercover western intelligence agent in Moscow
Felix Scott as Radimir Petrovsky, the first deputy of the Second Chief Directorate of the KGB, Konstantin Filonov's second-in-command, and Colonel Raskova's new immediate Star City boss
Guest
Niamh Algar as Yana Akhmatova, a cosmonaut who was trained to be the first woman on the moon
Jenny Walser as Svetlana Leonova, the wife of cosmonaut Alexei Leonov
Sean Gilder as Vladimir Belikov, Anastasia's father
Jamie de Courcey as Stanislav Kalinsky, an apparatchik for the Communist Party
Shubham Saraf as Manu Chadha, Lakshmi's husband
Will Keen as Konstantin Filonov, the director of the KGB Second Chief Directorate and Lyudmilla's apparent KGB rival
Sam Troughton as Andrei Stepanov, new lead engineer for Salyut 1
Additionally, Colm Feore, Chris Bauer and Dan Donohue made uncredited appearances in "The Eyes" as Wernher von Braun, Deke Slayton and Thomas O. Paine, respectively in which a clip from the NASA press conference scene in the first episode of the first season of For All Mankind was shown on Soviet television within the story.
Production
The series is created for Apple TV by Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert and Ronald D. Moore, with Wolpert and Nedivi as showrunners and executive producers alongside Moore of Tall Ship Productions, and Steve Oster and Andrew Chambliss. Rhys Ifans is in a lead role as the Soviet's Chief Aerospace Designer with Anna Maxwell Martin as the head of the KGB surveillance team. In February 2025, Solly McLeod, Agnes O'Casey, Alice Englert, Adam Nagaitis, Josef Davies and Ruby Ashbourne Serkis joined the cast. In July, Priya Kansara joined the cast.
Filming took place in Vilnius, Lithuania, from February 2025. Filming locations included Vingis Park and Pašilaičiai.
Release
Star City had its world premiere out of competition at the 2026 Canneseries. It premiered on Apple TV on May 29, 2026.
Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes determined that 94% of 34 critics' reviews were positive, and the average of rated reviews was 8.3 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Taut, ambitious, and impressively self-assured, Star City proves a worthy expansion of the For All Mankind universe with its blend of political intrigue and human drama." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 80 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.