House of the Dragon vet Rhys Ifans leads the star-studded Star City cast as the Soviet Union's Chief Designer, alongside Anna Maxwell Martin, Solly McLeod, Adam Nagaitis, Ruby Ashbourne Serkis, Agnes O'Casey taking over the role of Irina Morozova, Alice Englert taking over as Anastasia Belikova and Josef Davies taking over as Sergei Nikulov. The series has already garnered rave reviews from critics, currently holding a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Ahead of the show's premiere, ScreenRant's Liam Crowley interviewed Rhys Ifans, Matt Wolpert, Ben Nedivi, Anna Maxwell Martin, Agnes O’Casey, Solly McLeod and Alice Englert to discuss Star City. When asked about expanding on For All Mankind's world without rewriting its canon, Wolpert explained that they aimed to keep things cohesive, even if the spinoff "is not about those same events that happen" in the original show.
One of the key things that the co-creator cited as being helpful in avoiding messing with any canon is "that sense of secrecy" throughout Star City, explaining that "the Americans knew very little of what was going on behind the Iron Curtain." As such, he, Nedivi and the rest of the writers room had the ability to "tell stories that exist in their own right," even while featuring "small overlaps with certain characters":
Matt Wolpert: You see Irina Morozova as a young woman coming up in the KGB, and sort of get to see what made her who she is as she rises up in the system. And seeing Sergei Nikulov as a young engineer who is learning at the feet of the Chief Designer. So, there are those elements of the DNA or the storytelling of For All Mankind, but it really was important to us that it live on its own two feet.
The KGB's Goals & The Soviet Space Program's Will Be At Odds In Star City
ScreenRant: To talk about Sasha here specifically, it seems like he's one of those cosmonauts that has a lot of bravado, if that's fair to say. He wants to lead by himself. Would you say at this stage of where he is in the show that he's putting himself or the greater mission first?
Solly McLeod: I think, as with all the characters, even though they're under this oppressive regime, there is still this — whether it's wanted or not, or whether it's conscious or not — a sense of patriotism and stuff that they all kind of have, having grown up in this world, and a sense of duty, as well. He's a soldier. He was in the Air Force before he was at Cosmo. And I think his bravado and his immaturity and his stunts that he pulls is a way of rebelling against them, but also a way of sabotaging his potential and abilities. I think he knows the risks that are associated with going up to space in one of the Soviet capsules. It's not like none of it's safe. There's no backup plan. It's like they definitely felt expendable, and I think the bravado is a bit of a front and a facade for that.
Alice Englert: And they make an effort to let them know that they're expendable.
Solly McLeod: Yeah, exactly. And you see it. It's a dark, stressful position to be in. So I think there's a kind of cockiness to him that's real, but I think a lot of it comes from a place of insecurity.
ScreenRant: So Anna, you play the head of the KGB Surveillance Department. How would you classify the KGB's intentions in relation to the Soviet Space Program? Are they at odds? Are they working in tandem?
Anna Maxwell Martin: I think sometimes there are odds. I think you definitely see that in the character that Rhys plays, in their dynamic. They're at odds. He wants to be expressive and creative and free to do what he wants to do, whereas she is the conduit of the state saying, "You'll do what we tell you to do." And then the sort of overlying structure is that she's trying to safeguard the security of Star City, which means that you can't have a mole. You can't have people leaking information, you can't have people jeopardizing the plan for Star City, and especially people in the West getting hold of that. So Lyudmilla's big fear is the Americans, isn't it? That the Americans have infiltrated or there's a spy. So her job is just to safeguard that.
Be sure to dive into some of our other Star City coverage with:
The first two episodes of Star City are now streaming on Apple TV, with new episodes airing Fridays!
Release Date
May 29, 2026
Network
Apple TV
Showrunner
Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert
English (US) ·