Apple TV’s New Sci-Fi Series With Near-Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score Confirmed as an Instant Hit

Since its launch, Apple TV has had a tough mountain to climb to make a name for itself in the crowded streaming service. To its credit, though, it’s mostly been able to do that. Not only has Apple TV allowed its shows to find an audience and cultivate a fandom with its shows before just quickly cancelling them. It’s also carved out a niche lane that has given it an edge over its competitors, not only adapting high-profile science fiction books for the first time ever but debuting all-new original sci-fi shows, and, once again, letting them find their audience (which they usually do).

One of the best examples that fits both of these markers for Apple TV is their sci-fi series For All Mankind. Central to that show’s entire plot is a hypothetical question: What if Russia beat America to the Moon? Across five seasons, the show has developed its own alternate history, expanding the scope from just the NASA control room to a full base on Mars and the far reaches of our solar system. Though a sixth and final season of the series is on the way, an expansion of For All Mankind has arrived in the form of Star City, a spinoff revealing the Soviet side of the story that kickstarted this entire alternate Earth. Less than a week after release, though, Star City is proving to be a hit.

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Star City Is Apple TV’s Next Big Series

Star City premiered its first two episodes just last week, and fans have wasted no time checking them out. According to FlixPatrol, Star City debuted as the #10 TV show on Apple TV on its first day, but has since climbed to the #4 position. Normally, a new show not reaching a slightly higher position would be somewhat alarming; Star City has major competition sitting above it, though, so it’s not the end of the world. Immediately ahead of Star City is, naturally, For All Mankind itself, which just wrapped up a major season and has fifty episodes to its name now.

The two shows that occupy the top spots also make a lot of sense, with Widow’s Bay at #2 and Your Friends & Neighbors at #1. Both of these shows are still releasing new episodes, with the top show nearing its own season finale. All of this is to say, Star City reaching #4 with just two episodes is a good sign, since the three shows above it have even more episodes and a lot of hype behind them.

It’s only a matter of time before the same thing happens to Star City, though, as the new series has a near-perfect critic’s score on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 96% score as of this writing (which is above For All Mankind‘s Season 5 score of 90%). In addition to more episodes and critical acclaim working in its favor, it’s also worth noting that Star City, despite being a spinoff, doesn’t require the audience to have seen all of For All Mankind. Though some characters crossover between them, they’re not played by the same actors.

In fact, Star City is not only friendly to newcomers, but actually lives in a totally different genre from For All Mankind. Though the original show is an optimistic drama that hinges on science fiction, Star City is a paranoid thriller that holds onto the realism of how terrifying space is. That distinction may be enough to bring in new stars, but also potentially confuse longtime fans. Time will tell how well Star City holds onto its Top 10 spot on Apple TV, though, with six episodes left to go in its first season.