Remember when the BBC announced that we were getting a Motherland spin-off (hello, Amandaland) and we all wondered why Anna Maxwell Martin wasn’t in it? Well, it turns out she’s been busy working on a surprise spin-off of her own in the form of Apple TV’s Star City – and Amandaland bosses might well be quaking in their boots as it’s set to be even bigger and braver.
The upcoming series is a spin-off of Apple TV’s hit space race series, For All Mankind, and tells the story the alternative history of the space race - like the original series - but this time from the Soviet Union perspective. The streamer is billing it as “a propulsive paranoid thriller”, so while we probably can’t expect many laughs from the series, we can expect plenty of drama and another masterful performance from Anna.
While we patiently wait for its arrival on our screens, here’s everything you need to know about Star City, including the full plot, cast and release date.
What is Star City about?
As we mentioned, the series is a spin-off of Apple TV+’s acclaimed space race drama For All Mankind. The original series explores an alternate history depicting what would have happened if the global space race had never ended. In this reality, the Soviet Union beats the US to the first crewed Moon landing, changing the course of history in the process. The landing devastates morale at NASA but also triggers a US effort to catch up. Four series of the sci-fi drama have aired, with a fifth on its way on Friday 27th March.
So, what will the spin-off entail? According to Apple TV, Star City will expand the world of For All Mankind and enter audiences into a bold new chapter. Described as a “propulsive paranoid thriller”, the eight-part series will takes us back to the key moment in the alternative-history retelling of the space race - when the Soviet Union became the first nation to put a man on the moon. This time, however, the series is even braver and explores 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 humankind forward.
The new series will star Rhys Ifans as the Chief Designer, the driving force behind the Soviet space program, Anna Maxwell Martin as Lyudmilla Raskova, the head of the KGB surveillance department at Star City, and Adam Nagaitis as Valya Markelova, a highly respected cosmonaut within the Soviet space program, among others. Anna is a key player in the series but, as you'll see from the rather moody first-look images above and below, there might not be too many laughs in store for her (sorry Motherland fans)!
Who’s in the cast of Star City?
The cast of Star City includes:
- Anna Maxwell Martin (Motherland)
- Rhys Ifans (House of the Dragon)
- Agnes O’Casey (Black Doves)
- Alice Englert (Bad Behaviour)
- Solly McLeod (House of the Dragon)
- Adam Nagaitis (Chernobyl)
- Ruby Ashbourne Serkis (I, Jack Wright)
- Josef Davies (Andor)
- Priya Kansara (Bridgerton)
How can I watch Star City?
Star City will premiere on Apple TV+ with two episodes on Friday 29th May, followed by one new episode every Friday through to Friday 10th July.
What other Anna Maxwell Martin dramas can I watch now?
If you enjoy a good detective drama, we’d highly recommend giving Code 404 a go. The series is set in the near future and introduces us to Detective Inspectors DI John Major (Daniel Mays) and DI Roy Carver (Stephen Graham), the top crime fighting duo in the Unit. That is, until John is killed on the job. Wracked with guilt about his crime-fighting partner’s untimely death, Roy turns to the only person who understands him, John’s wife, Kelly (played by Anna) – but little do they know John is about to return thanks to experimental AI. Code 404 is available to watch now on Sky, NOW and Prime Video. If a spy thriller is more your thing, try A Spy Among Friends. The series brings to life the true story of Nicholas Elliott (Damian Lewis) who worked for MI6 in the 1960s and discovered that his close friend and colleague Kim Philby had been secretly working as an undercover agent for the KBG. Anna Maxwell Martin plays Lily Thomas, who interrogates Elliott and the intense face-off between her and Lewis makes for spectacular viewing. All six episodes of A Spy Among Friends are available to watch now on ITVX. For more of Anna’s best drama’s, check out our pick of her very best roles here.
