Apple TV Debuts 2 'Star City' Episodes, Recasting the Moon Race Through a Soviet Lens
Updated
Updated · Space.com · May 29
Apple TV Debuts 2 'Star City' Episodes, Recasting the Moon Race Through a Soviet Lens
2 articles · Updated · Space.com · May 29
Two episodes of Apple TV's "Star City" are now streaming, launching the "For All Mankind" spinoff with an alternate-history Soviet moon landing seen from inside mission control.
1966 survivor Sergei Korolev drives the show's divergence from real history, reviving the long-running premise that a living "Chief Designer" could have carried the USSR past Apollo 11.
Soviet secrecy and KGB control shape the drama: Alexei Leonov's wife learns of his mission only after agents arrive, while surveillance chief Lyudmilla Raskova monitors cosmonauts, engineers and public messaging.
The first two episodes also stress the harsher Soviet system, from risky spacecraft design to political purges and threats to replace a moon hero with a compliant lookalike.
New episodes arrive Fridays as Apple broadens its franchise strategy, using "Star City" to extend one of its best-known sci-fi properties with a darker espionage angle.
As Apple turns every hit series into a universe, is it sacrificing originality for the safety of familiar IP?
With AI accelerating production, will Apple's franchise-first strategy elevate storytelling or simply create more forgettable content faster?