“Star City” is a new companion series to “For All Mankind,” but it shifts the alternate-history premise behind the Iron Curtain, showing the Soviet side of the space race. Set in a world where the USSR puts the first person on the moon, the show follows the officials, engineers, cosmonauts and KGB operatives who must keep the machine running while living under constant surveillance, fear and political pressure.
The story begins in the aftermath of the moon landing by Alexei Leonov, whose triumphant speech about the benefits of the Marxist-Leninist system is closely monitored by Lyudmilla, a formidable KGB colonel and wartime veteran. While Soviet leaders celebrate the victory, the chief space designer pushes for bolder ambitions, including missions to Mars and Venus, but the state remains focused on maintaining its advantage over the United States. The priority is not exploration for its own sake, but winning the Cold War in space.
Tension rises when a cosmonaut, Yana, is accused of violating state expectations and is removed from an upcoming mission after intense interrogation. She is replaced by Anastasia Belikova, a more obedient but less capable party loyalist, highlighting how ideology often outweighs merit in the Soviet system. Meanwhile, Irina, a typist in a massive room of clerical workers who transcribe secret KGB recordings, discovers that Yana has been wrongfully accused. Her decision to bring the evidence to Lyudmilla draws her into the orbit of power and makes her a possible assistant in the search for a Soviet mole who has leaked plans for a future moon base to the Americans.
The series is described as much darker and more claustrophobic than “For All Mankind.” By moving the focus to the USSR, it places characters in a system where every word and action can have serious consequences. The show emphasizes how ordinary decisions can become dangerous under authoritarian rule, and how fear shapes behavior in every corner of society. Rather than relying on the glossy tone of earlier episodes of “For All Mankind,” “Star City” presents a world in which tension is constant and escape is nearly impossible.
The review highlights the show’s layered storytelling, noting how small compromises, private doubts and accidental mistakes can escalate into larger crises. Characters are forced to navigate surveillance, loyalty tests and the risk of punishment at every turn. Even minor acts of defiance, such as Anastasia acknowledging Yana’s contribution during a public broadcast, can become politically risky. Likewise, the chief designer’s willingness to divert lunar resources for his own interplanetary plans reveals the dangerous mix of ambition and secrecy that drives the drama.
At its core, “Star City” uses the space race not just as science-fiction speculation, but as a way to examine human behavior under extreme pressure. It explores what people sacrifice to survive, how trust erodes in oppressive systems, and how the desire for freedom persists even in tightly controlled environments. The result is a tense political and psychological drama set in an alternate Soviet space program. “Star City” streams on Apple TV.
