The 'For All Mankind' universe is about to get a whole lot bigger

The new "Star City" will go back to the beginning of "For All Mankind," and see life from the Soviet side

"For All Mankind" was one of the first shows announced by Apple TV+ back at its launch in 2019, and is an alternative view of the space race. While it now seems a long way since its starting point of having the Soviets be the first to land astronauts on the moon, the drama has explored the entirely different reality that would have created.

Now according to Variety, Apple TV+ has renewed it for a fifth run, and at the same time commissioned the producers to create a spin-off. With a working title of "Star City," the spin off will again start back with the Soviets beating America to the moon.

"Star City" will then "explore the story from behind the Iron Curtain," says the show's pitch as seen by Variety, "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."

The spin off is being created by the same team behind "For All Mankind," which is led by Ronald D. Moore. Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi will be showrunners on the new series.

"Our fascination with the Soviet space program has grown with every season of 'For All Mankind,'" Wolpert and Nedivi said. "The more we learned about this secret city in the forests outside Moscow where the Soviet cosmonauts and engineers worked and lived, the more we wanted to tell this story of the other side of the space race."

"We could not be more excited to continue building out the alternate history universe of 'For All Mankind' with our partners at Apple and Sony," they continued.

There has been no announcement of streaming dates for either "For All Mankind" season 5, or "Star City" season 1. Process was greatly impacted by Hollywood strikes in 2023.

All four seasons of "For All Mankind" are streaming now on Apple TV+.