Star City creators Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi have opened up about the specific storylines that are set to be explored in the For All Mankind spin-off, describing one in particular as “special”.
The Apple TV drama, starring Anna Maxwell Martin and Rhys Ifans, will follow the Soviet perspective of the space race, after the nation was the first to land a man – and a woman – on the moon in the original series.
For the two showrunners, revisiting the story of the first woman on the moon, Anastasia Belikova (now played by Alice Englert) was a huge moment for them.
Speaking exclusively at a special screening of Star City in partnership with Radio Times, Wolpert said: “There will be Easter eggs throughout but think the most special thing, one of the other stories I’m really excited about, is Anastasia Belikova.
“In For All Mankind, she’s just a face on a TV screen, people see her in a newspaper, and [now] to get to see what came before and what came after, especially for her, that story is fascinating. Alice just did such a beautiful job bringing her to life.”
Speaking about how she approached the character, who becomes famous throughout the world but is barely in control of her own life, actress Englert told us: “One of the things that really struck me is that she starts, I think, in a place where courage isn’t something she chooses.
“It’s just a response to terror and to the deepest of rooted insecurities you could possibly have. It’s fear masquerading as courage. But what I liked is watching her wake up and actually have to be a person, even if that person wasn’t as interesting or as useful to the state as it was to her.”
She cites real-life cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin (who became the first person to journey into outer space) and Valentina Tereshkova (the first woman in space) as being “huge inspirations” for her.
She went on to explain: “Whoever [Gagarin] really truly was has kind of been eclipsed by the legend of who he was and then the scandal of who he was. And I thought that was fascinating to enter into that space where you don’t belong to yourself any anymore.”
“They’re also actual characters within the lore of the story,” she added. “Which is what I kind of love about the show as well, is that it is a fiction, it is an alternate history, but it is deeply inspired [by real life] and really authentic where it can be.”
Star City will premiere on Apple TV+ on Friday 29 May.
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Authors
Louise Griffin is the Sci-Fi & Fantasy Editor for Radio Times, covering everything from Doctor Who, Star Wars and Marvel to House of the Dragon and Good Omens. She previously worked at Metro as a Senior Entertainment Reporter and has a degree in English Literature.
