Apple TV's New Sci-Fi Shared Universe Is Already A 10/10

Apple TV+ has quietly become the most reliable home for original sci-fi shows with a lineup of series that consistently rank among the genre’s best. The likes of Severance, Silo, Foundation, and Dark Matter all feel distinct from one another, but are all equally brilliant. They are big-budget cerebral sci-fi shows that trust audiences to keep up, and that approach has turned Apple TV+ into the platform genre fans rely on.

What Apple has lacked, however, is a true sci-fi franchise. Platforms like Prime Video and Disney+ have massive interconnected worlds that keep audiences invested for years at a time. Apple’s shows, no matter how acclaimed, have existed in isolation. Or, at least, that was the case until Star City arrived, which transformed For All Mankind from a standalone hit into Apple TV+’s first real shared sci-fi universe.

Star City focuses on the Soviet side of For All Mankind’s space race, exploring the hidden stories behind the USSR’s early victories in the timeline. Debuting on May 29 with two episodes, Star City sits at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing, and reviews have been especially positive. Even with six episodes still to air, Star City already feels like proof that expanding the For All Mankind universe was a brilliant idea.

For All Mankind Has Become A Franchise Thanks To Star City

Of all Apple TV+’s sci-fi shows, For All Mankind has stood out for its franchise potential. Its alternate-history premise was enormous in scope, with decades of rewritten geopolitical events happening just outside the edges of the main story. The original series mainly followed NASA astronauts and American political figures, but the world it created always hinted at much bigger possibilities. Star City is the first project to fully capitalize on that.

Rather than continuing the story forward in time, Star City expands sideways. The series focuses on the Soviet space program and explores how Roscosmos operated during the same events audiences already witnessed in For All Mankind. Because of this, the alternative history of FAM is now a fully realized world with multiple viewpoints and overlapping events. What’s more, it’s a cinematic universe with plenty of room for entirely new stories to emerge.

Star City has already proved that turning For All Mankind into a franchise was a smart move. There are countless corners of the timeline Apple could explore next. A series centered on Europe’s role in the alternate space race, a political thriller focused on the White House, or even a corporate drama about Helios, for example, all have a lot of potential. Apple TV+ has spent years creating great standalone sci-fi shows, but Star City shows that the platform is finally thinking bigger.

Star City Is A Return To For All Mankind’s Best Era

For All Mankind has remained consistently ambitious throughout its run, but many viewers still prefer its earlier seasons. That’s not because the quality declinesm though. As the story moves toward Mars colonization and a technologically advanced alternate future, the tone of For All Mankind moves away from the grounded alternate history that originally made it so fascinating.

The earliest seasons of For All Mankind won fans over because they remixed real history. The show asked a simple question of what might have happened if the Soviet Union landed on the Moon first, then explored how that single event reshaped the world viewers know. Seeing familiar historical events unfold differently was a huge part of the appeal. However, as the timeline advanced into the 1990s and 2000s, For All Mankind naturally became more futuristic and closer to traditional space-based sci-fi.

That is exactly why Star City feels so refreshing. By returning to the height of the Cold War and focusing on the Soviet side of the space race, the spinoff taps directly into what made For All Mankind so beloved in the first place, making the alternate history tone front and center again. Star City proves that the For All Mankind universe does not need to keep racing further into the future to stay exciting, and that Apple understands what made the original show so beloved in the first place.