For All Mankind returns to Apple TV+ for a fifth season of space-based alternate history antics. This is unsurprising given season four’s near-universal critical acclaim. However, the business recently unexpectedly revealed a spinoff series titled Star City, which will chronicle the Russian space program.
Though the cast of Star City is still undetermined, original series creators Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi are all on board. It is described as a “propulsive, paranoid thriller” and a “robust expansion” of the universe in the story synopsis. It also appears to be bringing viewers back to the Russian moon landing that served as the basis for the first season of For All Mankind.
“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 humanity forward,” Apple wrote in a press release.
The company didn’t say if the show would rely on frequent time jumps, like its forebear. To that end, Apple hasn’t released any casting information for season five of For All Mankind. Given the show’s propensity toward expansive time skips, it’s highly possible series regulars like Joel Kinnaman and Krys Marshall are on their way out. After all, their characters were really getting up there in age and stretching credulity in season four.
This is some seriously good news for sci-fi fans, but still doesn’t take away the brutal sting of Star Trek: Lower Decks getting canceled. Paramount should probably just sell Star Trek to Apple already, since the latter actually seems to care about science fiction.
