Star City deepfakes AI filmmaking represents Apple TV’s most audacious visual strategy yet. The upcoming spinoff, arriving May 29, 2026, will inherit the deepfake-style techniques pioneered on For All Mankind, potentially extending a controversial but technically sophisticated approach to depicting historical figures and Soviet space operations.
Key Takeaways
- Star City launches May 29, 2026, as a For All Mankind spinoff set in the Soviet alternate-history space race
- For All Mankind season 2 used Video Dialogue Replacement (VDR) technology to recreate Ronald Reagan and other public figures
- The production worked with Canny AI, an Israel-based company specializing in deepfake-style video replacement
- Star City could inherit these same technical workflows to depict Soviet-era characters and space operations
- The creative team described the technology’s progress as going from “impossible” to “getting better with every year”
How For All Mankind Pioneered Deepfake Filmmaking
For All Mankind season 2 demonstrated that deepfake-style techniques could work at broadcast scale. The production partnered with Canny AI to deploy Video Dialogue Replacement (VDR) across multiple episodes, allowing actors’ lips and facial expressions to synchronize with source footage of historical figures. A brief Ronald Reagan address in the episode “Rules of Engagement” showcased the technique’s polish—the rendering was not done in real time, forcing actors to perform against a Reagan who was not physically present on set.
The technology’s trajectory impressed the For All Mankind team. One producer reflected: “It’s been incredible to see the progress from the beginning, where we felt like it was going to be impossible, to today, where the technology is actually getting better with every year of the show”. That confidence matters. When a production team moves from skepticism to optimism about a controversial tool, they tend to use it more liberally in follow-up projects.
Star City’s Soviet Perspective Could Amplify AI Usage
Star City shifts the alternate-history lens to the Soviet side of the space race, described as a “propulsive paranoid thriller”. The creative challenge is steeper than For All Mankind’s American-centric narrative. Depicting Soviet cosmonauts, intelligence officials, and historical figures requires either extensive period casting or—more likely—the same VDR techniques that worked on Reagan. The production team’s expertise from For All Mankind gives them a roadmap.
This is where the deepfake controversy becomes relevant. For All Mankind faced pushback over using deepfakes to resurrect public figures without explicit consent. Star City, by inheriting those workflows, will likely face similar criticism. Yet the technical foundation is already proven. The team knows how to integrate VDR into production pipelines, how to manage actor performances against digital stand-ins, and how to render convincing historical recreations.
The Broader Implications for Streaming Sci-Fi
Star City’s potential use of AI-generated dialogue replacement signals a shift in how prestige streaming series approach historical accuracy and casting constraints. Rather than aging actors or hiring lookalikes, productions can now deploy deepfake-adjacent technology to match source footage—a workflow that trades creative control for technical precision.
The risk is credibility. Viewers who notice the technique will question whether they are watching performance or algorithm. For All Mankind managed this by using VDR sparingly, on brief speeches rather than extended scenes. Star City will face pressure to do the same—or to lean into the artificiality as part of its paranoid-thriller aesthetic. Either way, the decision to inherit For All Mankind’s deepfake infrastructure commits Apple TV to a visual strategy that blurs the line between performance capture and digital reconstruction.
Does Star City definitely use deepfakes?
The provided coverage suggests Star City could employ deepfake-style techniques based on the creative team’s For All Mankind experience, but no official confirmation states the spinoff will definitely use VDR or AI dialogue replacement. The title’s reference to deepfakes implies the possibility, but Apple TV has not publicly committed to the approach for Star City itself.
What was the deepfake technology used in For All Mankind?
For All Mankind season 2 used Video Dialogue Replacement (VDR), a technique developed by Canny AI that synchronizes an actor’s lips and facial expressions with source footage of a historical figure. The rendering process was not real-time, requiring actors to perform against an absent digital stand-in rather than a physically present performer.
When does Star City premiere on Apple TV?
Star City is scheduled to launch on Apple TV on May 29, 2026. The spinoff will continue the alternate-history space-race narrative established by For All Mankind, but from a Soviet perspective and with a paranoid-thriller tone.
Star City arrives at a moment when audiences and critics are increasingly skeptical of deepfakes—yet also increasingly sophisticated in recognizing the technology’s potential for historical storytelling. Apple TV is betting that the same team and techniques that made For All Mankind’s Reagan sequence convincing can scale to an entire spinoff. Whether that gamble pays off depends not just on technical execution but on whether viewers accept AI-assisted performances as a legitimate creative choice. For All Mankind proved the technology works. Star City will prove whether audiences care.
Edited by the All Things Geek team.
Source: TechRadar
