For All Mankind spin-off casts House of the Dragon star as lead
The actor will juggle both projects in the immediate term.
House of the Dragon star Rhys Ifans will lead the cast of For All Mankind spin-off Star City on Apple TV+.
The actor currently stars on HBO's Game of Thrones prequel as Ser Otto Hightower, the crafty father of Olivia Cooke's Dowager Queen Alicent, with Deadline reporting that he will juggle both House of the Dragon and Star City in the immediate term.
However, the publication notes that questions remain over the actor's involvement in the fantasy drama "in the long run", with the story of the Targaryen and Hightower feud intended to stretch over a total of four seasons.
Star City will see Ifans slip into yet another intelligent, calculating character as the Chief Designer of the Soviet space programme that is central to the sci-fi drama's alternate history timeline.
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The synopsis for Star City, courtesy of Apple, describes it as "a propulsive, paranoid thriller that takes us back to the key moment in the alt-history retelling of the space race – when the Soviet Union became the first nation to put a man on the moon".
It continues: "This time, we explore the story from behind the Iron Curtain, showing the lives of the cosmonauts, the engineers and the intelligence officers embedded among them in the Soviet space programme, and the risks they all took to propel humanity forward."
No further casting for Star City has been announced at present. We'll bring you further updates as they come in.
Star City executive producers Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi, who also co-created its parent show, commented: "Our fascination with the Soviet space program has grown with every season of For All Mankind.
"The more we learned about this secret city in the forests outside Moscow where the Soviet cosmonauts and engineers worked and lived, the more we wanted to tell this story of the other side of the space race.
"We could not be more excited to continue building out the alternate history universe of For All Mankind with our partners at Apple and Sony."
Star City is coming soon to Apple TV+. Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.
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Authors
David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.