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Apple TV's Hit Sci-Fi Epic Officially Recasts Major Characters in New Spin-Off Series

By Sofia Martinez · Culture & Entertainment Editor

May 1, 2026 · 10 min read

Denis Kimathi

Published May 1, 2026, 7:30 PM EDT

Denis is a news writer for Collider with close to five years of experience in the industry. He has analyzed shows across different genres, formats and styles. His favorite types of articles to write are exciting news updates and episodic deep-dives. He might say he doesn't have a favorite show, but he has watched The Wire, Shameless, The Big Bang Theory, and The Blacklist more than once. Denis is increasingly becoming focused on the global streaming arena and how media connects with audiences in various markets. Find him on X tweeting about something random that occurred to him about a TV show or the industry in general.

May 29 marks the conclusion of the fifth season of Apple TV's hit sci-fi series, For All Mankind_. On the same day, viewers will be introduced to this universe as they've never experienced it before when the spin-off, Star City, debuts. The show's timeline takes place in the early seasons of For All Mankind and explores the Soviet side of the story. This means that viewers will meet some of the characters they already saw in For All Mankind, but they won't be played by the same actors. Star City had to recast some roles because the story finds them at different stages of their lives.

Star City's co-creator and showrunner Matt Wolpert said in a new interview that recasting the characters "was certainly complicated" because they "love the actors who played the older versions of them." In the spin-off, Irina Morozova is played by Agnes O'Casey, and Sergei Nikulov is played by Josef Davies. These iconic characters are played by Svetlana Efremova and Piotr Adamczyk in For All Mankind, so Wolpert said that when recasting, it was important to capture the essence of the characters as portrayed before, even if there will be some changes. "With Sergei, Josef Davies brilliantly captures that intelligence and that warmheartedness of Sergei Nikulov," he said.

But not everyone is as viewers were when they were first introduced to them. Irina inspires fear by just existing in the mothership series, but she wasn't always like that. This evolution is something Star City aims to explore, according to Wolpert. "[Irina's] this kind of cold, powerful woman, and getting to show the kind of the younger version of her who isn't that at all," he said. Showing how "she became that woman is something that, creatively, we're really excited to tell."

COLLIDER Collider · Quiz

Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero_ Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky

Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🏜️Paul Atreides 🖖Capt. Kirk ✊Princess Leia 🔦Ellen Ripley 🔥Max Rockatansky

FIND YOUR HERO →

QUESTION 1 / 8LEADERSHIP

01 How do you lead when the stakes couldn't be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.

AI absorb everything — every variable, every pattern — and move only when I know the path forward. BI read the room, make the call, and own the consequences. Hesitation costs more than mistakes. CI rally people. A cause needs a voice, and I refuse to let fear be louder than conviction. DI assess the threat, establish what needs doing, and get it done without waiting for permission. EI don't lead. I act. Others can follow or not — I'm already moving.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 2 / 8STRENGTH

02 What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.

APrescience — the ability to see further ahead than anyone else and plan accordingly. BImprovisation — I'm at my best when the plan falls apart and I have to invent a new one. CConviction — I know what I'm fighting for, and that certainty doesn't waver under fire. DComposure — I stay functional when everyone around me is falling apart. Panic is a luxury. EEndurance — I outlast things. I take the hit and keep moving long after others have stopped.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 3 / 8MOTIVATION

03 What is the thing you'd sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.

AThe survival and dignity of my people — even if I have to become something frightening to ensure it. BThe safety of my crew — every single one of them. No one gets left behind. CFreedom — for my people, for every world still crushed under the weight of an empire. DThe truth — what actually happened, what's actually out there, whether anyone believes me or not. EThe one person — or the one memory — that still makes any of this worth surviving for.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 4 / 8PEOPLE

04 How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.

AWith intensity and distance — I care deeply, but the weight I carry makes closeness complicated. BWith warmth and irreverence — I take the mission seriously, not myself. CWith directness and trust — I say what I mean, and I expect the people I work with to rise to it. DWith professional care but clear limits — I'll protect you, but I won't pretend we're family. EWith wariness that slowly becomes loyalty — I don't trust easily, but when I do, it holds.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 5 / 8THREAT

05 You're facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you're the only one who sees it defines everything.

APrepare in silence. If they won't listen, I'll be ready when they finally have to. BKeep pushing until someone listens — and if no one does, handle it myself. CBuild the case, find the allies, and make the threat impossible to ignore. DDocument everything. The truth matters even if no one believes it yet. EStop trying to convince anyone. Survive it. That's the only argument that counts.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 6 / 8COST

06 What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they'd pay it again.

AMy innocence — I've seen what I'm capable of, and I can't unsee it. BPeople I loved — the command chair has a view, but it's a lonely one. CA normal life — I gave up everything ordinary the moment I chose the cause. DMy sense of safety — I know exactly what's out there now, and I can't pretend otherwise. EAlmost everything — and I'm still not sure what I'm carrying it all for. But I keep going.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 7 / 8RULES

07 How do you feel about the rules of the world you're in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What's yours?

AI understand them deeply — and I know exactly which ones must be broken, and why. BI respect the spirit of them and bend the letter when the situation demands it. CThe system is the problem. I'm not here to work within it — I'm here to dismantle it. DI follow protocol until protocol stops being useful. Then I make the call myself. EThe rules collapsed a long time ago. What's left is instinct, and mine are reliable.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 8 / 8PURPOSE

08 When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.

ADestiny — or something that feels so much like it that the difference no longer matters. BThe people on my ship — their faces, their trust, the fact that they're counting on me. CThe belief that what we're fighting for is worth every sacrifice, including this one. DSheer refusal to let it win — whatever it is. I don't stop. That's just who I am. EI'm not sure anymore. But the road is still there, and I'm still on it.

REVEAL MY HERO →

Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is… Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.

Arrakis · Dune

Paul Atreides You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you're capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.

You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn't ask for but can't escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won't, is exactly you.

USS Enterprise · Star Trek

Captain Kirk You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you've always believed there's a third option nobody else has thought of yet.

You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you've earned it.
Kirk's genius isn't tactical — it's human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.

The Rebellion · Star Wars

Princess Leia You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you're fearless, but because giving up simply isn't something you're capable of.

You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you've never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.

The Nostromo · Alien

Ellen Ripley You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone's hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.

You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley's heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn't have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn't there.
When it counts, you don't flinch. That's everything.

The Wasteland · Mad Max

Max Rockatansky You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.

You don't ask for help, don't need validation, and don't wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it's earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

What Is 'Star City' About?

In For All Mankind, we saw Americans lose the Moon-landing race to the Soviets. We also caught glimpses of what it was like for the cosmonauts, but not the entire story. Star City aims to tell the full story with a well-rounded exploration of the characters. The series combines Soviet brilliance and surveillance to deliver an engaging thriller in an alt-history retelling of one of the biggest moments in human history. Other cast members include Rhys Ifans, Anna Maxwell Martin, Alice Englehert, Solly McLeod, Adam Nagaitis, Ray Ashbourne Serkis, and Priya Kansara.

The eight-episode first season of Star City premieres with two episodes on Friday, May 29, followed by one new episode every Friday through July 10. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Star City

Followed

Science Fiction

Cast

Rhys Ifans

Chief Designer

Anna Maxwell Martin

Lyudmilla

Agnes O'Casey

Irina

Alice Englert

Anastasia

Writers**

Megan McDonnell

Creator(s)

Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert, Ronald D.