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Star City Review
This spin-off from hit series For All Mankind is packed with paranoia and tension. It tells Russia’s side of the alternative history – and is so believable that it will give you nightmares
TL;DR
- Star City is a spin-off of For All Mankind, focusing on an alternate history where the space race never ended, but from the Soviet perspective.
- The series is set in Star City, the USSR's equivalent of Cape Canaveral, and follows events after Alexei Leonov's moon landing.
- Key characters include Lyudmilla, head of KGB surveillance, the chief designer with ambitions for Mars and Venus, and cosmonauts Yana and Anastasia.
- The narrative highlights the pervasive fear, tension, and lack of freedom experienced by individuals in the Soviet system.
- The show explores how human nature warps in the absence of trust and how people survive under extreme stress, all while weaving personal struggles into larger, nightmarish events.
- Unlike its predecessor, Star City is noted for its palpable tension and avoidance of glossy blandness or excessive soapiness.