Summary
For All Mankindcreator Ronald D. Moore has offered a writing update on the upcoming spinoff,Star City, detailing the story elements and potential time jumps the show will bring. Announced alongside the renewal ofFor All Mankindseason 5, the upcoming spinoff will follow the Soviet perspective of the space race within the same alternate history timeline. While not much is known about the story of the new show, it’s expected to feel similar to the original while carving out its own path for new stories and characters in the process.
Speaking withCollider, Moore revealed new details aboutStar City, stating that, while plans were not as detailed asFor All Mankind,a multi-season story has been plotted out. The creator also explained how time jumps in the show would work, revealing what makes them different from the main show. Check out what Moore had to say below:
We’re in the writing period of the spinoff series, which is Star City, which is very exciting. I’m very happy that Apple was supportive of that whole concept and to do it and to tell the story from the cosmonaut point of view and how the Russians got to the moon first and what it was like to work in that program.
I didn’t know a lot about the Russian space program before I started doing this project. I knew an awful lot about the American program, but I think most Americans don’t know a lot of details about that. It was pretty ballsy stuff that they did. The spacecraft were not quite as reliable as ours were; they lost a lot of good people on them. The conditions were tough. They also had things like the KGB being around and hanging out in mission control, so there’s a lot of espionage and Cold War kind of environments that you’re dealing with in that particular show. So, it’s a familiar tale in terms of the narrative for people who watch Mankind. They know the Soviets got there first and they know that they have a robust space program in our alternate history, but certainly the details of how that program worked and what it was like to be on the inside of that program, I think are gonna be really interesting to the audience.
[W]e have a path. We have a general arc. It’s probably not as detailed as what we started off with on For All Mankind, but we have a general sort of, “Okay, here’s the structure of how this would play out over several seasons.”
I’m not sure what the [time] jumps will be. We know we are gonna jump through time. We haven’t quite got to that point yet. It’s probably still a in-the-decade, or so, jump ahead. We don’t know if we’re gonna do exactly what the Mankind jumps were or if we’ll try to split them in the middle. But it’s still a format that works for us and makes it a unique part of this universe. It also allows their space program to advance. That was why we did it on Mankind so that you could see the advancement in chunks instead of getting stuck in a very limited timeframe where there really wouldn’t be a lot of change.
Star City Might Be Structured Differently Than For All Mankind
Smaller Jumps & A New Story Could Help It Stand Out
Whilethe focus on Russia’s space program will be enough forStar Cityto stand out, some attributes in Moore’s plans mean the show’s structure could also be quite different. All the way throughFor All Mankindseason 4’s ending, every season has included a final scene that indicates a time jump, usually of one or two decades. However, the details for the new show indicate there will be smaller jumps, meaning the plan is focused on a particular time period within the alternate history universe.
Even though plans for the spinoff aren’t as detailed as the parent series,the fact that it has an endpoint in mind means there will be payoff for everything that happens in the show.The structure could be different, however, depending on the number of seasons it takes to tell the story. This could include smaller time jumps happening in the middle of the season, or big events not being saved for season finales. Different methods of storytelling could also be employed, giving the show a unique vibe contrasting with its parent series.
Depending on whenStar Citytakes place, there’s also the potential thatFor All Mankindcharacterswill be mentioned to cement together the interwoven histories of both shows. The show could help fill in some gaps within the main series' timeline, depending on what the planned story is. However, from Moore’s comments, it seems the main goal of the show is to stand on its own from the original, making even the smaller differences to the series much more important.
For All Mankindseason 5 is currently filming, whileStar Cityis in development.
