With Star City having come to a predictably riveting conclusion, Apple TV is sitting on a spin-off goldmine, and they’d be crazy not to start digging. A reimagining of For All Mankind – itself a reimagining of real-life history in which the Soviet Union won the Space Race – as a brutalist, paranoid espionage thriller, fans love it, and the finale, “The Wolves”, left plenty of meat on the bone for Season 2.
Here’s everything we know about it and where it might ultimately be heading. We already did a pretty good job of predicting the finale, so let’s see what we can do here.
Star City Season 2 Is Virtually Guaranteed
While it hasn’t been officially renewed at the time of writing, since Apple tends to wait around and crunch completion rate numbers before making that decision, every sign currently points towards a renewal being an inevitability.
For one thing, the show was a hit critically – boasting a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes – and among fans, who have relished every episode, but the back half of the season especially. Engagement has been heavy, and with Apple already having committed extensively to FAM, with a sixth and final season on the way, a renewal would only make sense.
Plus, this is very much Apple’s MO. Of all the major streaming platforms, this is the one with by far the most consistent long-term investment in its original IP. We’re highly optimistic about a renewal here, with the news likely to come sooner rather than later.
Production Timeline
Star City is a fairly expansive show full of impressive technical effects and details, so it isn’t the easiest thing to shoot. You also have to consider release window timing, since you don’t want the second season airing too close to For All Mankind Season 6. With that show being a big 2027 release for Apple TV, with the fifth season having aired earlier in 2026, it’s probable that Star City Season 2 would release further down the calendar, in late 2027 or perhaps even early 2028.
At its peak, For All Mankind produced new seasons every couple of years, but the gap between the fourth and fifth seasons was almost three years, which doesn’t bode especially well. However, it’s in everyone’s best interests for the timeline to be tighter, though it will obviously depend on how fast the show can enter pre-production after an official renewal.
The Story Writes Itself
The first season finale left plenty of dangling threads for Season 2 to pick up on. In truth, it didn’t really resolve anything, so it would function more as a direct continuation of Season 1. The showrunners have also said that Star City likely won’t utilise FAM’s massive time jumps, so that means direct outgrowths of the first season’s storylines are much more likely.
- The Venus Mission Cover-Up: In the finale, Sasha and Lakshmi made it back to Earth with help from the Chief Designer, Sergei, and Anastasia. However, only Lakshmi managed to get across the border into Finland. Sasha remained behind to be with Anastasia, so both of these characters will suffer under the Soviet State, as will Sergei and the Chief Designer, as the Venera 7 mission is covered up.
- A Possible Coup: With Radimir Petrovsky as the new Chief Designer and a staunch opponent of Lyudmilla, her decisive action in the finale, thanks to Irina, will probably allow her to wrest control of Star City back from her nemesis.
- A Trip to France: In the final scene of the finale, we finally caught a glimpse of Tanya, who seemed to be in Paris. Whatever she’s up to, it’s probably of some importance to Season 2.
Cast and Crew Predictions
Showrunners Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi, who both remain heavily involved in For All Mankind, would be expected to return. They would also likely be accompanied by DP Brendan Uegama, since the very specific aesthetic he chose for Star City is one of the primary differentiators between it and its parent show and would be necessary for visual continuity.
We’d also expect most of the main cast to return, obviously excepting Adam Nagaitis as Valya, since the finale confirmed his demise during the Venus mission. However, I’d wager that the following main characters all have big parts still to play:
- Rhys Ifans as the Chief Designer.
- Anna Maxwell Martin as KGB Colonel Lyudmilla Raskova.
- Alice Englert as Anastasia.
- Solly McLeod as Sasha.
- Agnes O’Casey as Irina Morozova.
- Priya Kansara as Lakshmi.
- Josef Davies as Sergei Nikulov.
