Star City EP Teases The 'Unconventional Love Story' Ahead For Anastasia And Sasha -- Plus, Grade The Spin-Off's Premiere - TVLine

You might not guess it from watching the first two episodes of Apple TV's "Star City," but it seems we're witnessing the beginning of a great love story.

"Star City," a spin-off of the streamer's alt-history drama "For All Mankind," launched with two installments on Friday, chronicling the mothership's same story -- what if America didn't win the Space Race? -- but from the Soviet perspective. During the premiere, polar-opposite cosmonauts Anastasia Belikova (Alice Englert) and Sasha Polivanov (Solly McLeod) are forced by the Soviet Union to marry each other, largely because Anastasia -- the first woman to walk on the moon -- is unwed, and the Soviets can't have that.

"It's actually inspired by a true story we couldn't believe, like a lot of the stories in 'Star City,'" series co-creator Ben Nedivi shares with TVLine. "The idea of a single woman being a hero to the Soviet Union was not possible. There was a situation where they forced cosmonauts to get married. And it felt like, 'Oh, that's something we have to dip our toes into as writers.'"