T-minus 10 seconds till liftoff — of spoilers, that’s — for Episodes 1 and a pair of of “Star Metropolis.”
Is anybody else instantly within the temper to return and re-watch all of “For All Mankind” Season 1? “Star Metropolis” is just two episodes in, however the Apple TV spin-off/prequel has already performed an unbelievable job of throwing us proper again into the thick of the Chilly Battle-set area race, a time frame going down concurrently with the debut season of its mother or father present. Rather than go-getter astronauts Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) and lovable greatest bud Gordo (Michael Dorman), nonetheless, we’re targeted squarely on the exploits of a handful of Soviet cosmonauts and their struggles to continuously keep forward of their American rivals.
Our new solid of characters function an assortment of fascinating figures — together with Alice Englert’s Anastasia Belikova, the primary girl on the moon; Rhys Ifans’ unnamed Chief Designer; younger Irina Morozova (Agnes O’Casey), one of many largest villains in “For All Mankind;” and Lyudmilla Raskova (Anna Maxwell Martin), the ruthless head of the KGB — however one particularly is sure to ring bells among the many most astute viewers of “Star Metropolis.” Whereas the Sixties interval setting would appear to attenuate any overt references to “For All Mankind,” a better take a look at cosmonaut Sasha Polivanov (performed by Solly McLeod) suggests in any other case.
Something about that surname stand out to you? Possibly not, since “Star Metropolis” would not cease the present in its tracks to attract any parallels with its unique collection. However Season 5 lately launched one other Russian character, Leonid Polivanov (Costa Ronin), the embattled governor of Mars. There’s loads of proof to recommend that the 2 could also be father and son, including a hidden (and interesting) connection to “For All Mankind.”
Star Metropolis could be hiding a serious For All Mankind character connection in plain sight
From one of the crucial unserious members of the cosmonaut crew within the Sixties to the governor of Mars many years sooner or later — that is fairly the legacy for 2 generations of the Polivanov household, presuming we’re accurately selecting up what “Star Metropolis” seems to be placing down. This would not be the primary occasion of the spin-off sneaking in some main connective tissue to “For All Mankind,” to be truthful. Along with Anastasia and Irina, the supporting character Sergei Nikulov (Josef Davies) reappears within the mother or father collection and performs a bigger position within the upcoming motion. That solely makes us extra inclined to imagine that the reckless Sasha Polivanov is, the truth is, the daddy of Governor Leonid Polivanov — the person sadly in cost when the Martian revolution rises up below his watch.
Does this idea cross the odor check? Properly, the timeline matches up. Sasha seems to be within the prime of his life within the late-Sixties setting of “Star Metropolis” and is established as a bachelor … up till his (secretly) organized marriage to Anastasia below Soviet orders, after all. Presuming this bears precise fruit, any little one of theirs born inside the subsequent decade or so might actually develop as much as develop into Leonid in “For All Mankind” Season 5, which is about within the 2010s. Extra intriguingly, what little we all know of Leonid’s backstory suggests he was a cosmonaut himself earlier than getting into politics. Was he impressed to comply with in his father Sasha’s footsteps? Will “Star Metropolis” ultimately complicate his marriage with Anastasia by including a rambunctious younger Leonid to the combo?
New episodes of “Star Metropolis” stream on Apple TV each Friday.
