Apple TV’s Star City: Is Joel Kinnaman Returning as Ed Baldwin?

Apple TV+ has officially cemented itself as the premier streaming destination when it comes to high-concept, mind-challenging content. After the success of its alt-history space race drama, For All Mankind, the platform is expanding its universe with the highly anticipated spin-off: Star City.

But the question is whether Joel Kinnaman’s cigar-chomping patriarch will be part of the spin-off after meeting his end in For All Mankind Season 5? Unfortunately, creators Ben Nedivi and Matt Wolpert revealed to Radio Times that it is the end of Ed Baldwin in the franchise and that it was a long time coming.

We wanted to make sure the ending felt different than other character endings we’ve done, but we wanted to make sure it also felt right that he had the end of his journey on the show. So yeah, going beyond that now would feel like a disservice to the other characters that I think you’ll see continue to expand their roles.

Kinnaman also stated the same to the publication and confirmed that Ed’s story is done. But when asked by TV Insider about the same, Kinnaman said that while he doesn’t think there will be any such crossover, he would be willing to give it a chance. 

How Did Joel Kinnaman’s Ed Baldwin Pass Away?

Joel Kinnaman’s fan-favorite character, Ed Baldwin, unfortunately, passed away during For All Mankind Season 5 Episode 3. In the third episode of the season, Home, Ed finally got a worthy send-off.

Ed had lung cancer but chose to hide it from his family. But when his family discovers it, they beg him to get treatment, but the stubborn astronaut refuses. He also participates in a physically demanding rescue mission that leaves him exhausted. 

His final moments come when he is surrounded by his daughter, Kelly, and his grandson, Alex. He passed away peacefully after devoting a lifetime of service. By the end of the episode, we see him meeting Gordo and his late wife, Karen, and Shane, serving as an emotional end to his journey. 

While the decision to kill the character was hard, it was necessary for the evolution of the show, as Wolpert revealed to Radio Times:

It felt like the right time to us because of the nature of the show and the evolution of the show in terms of this generational story. A big part of why we felt it was important that Ed die early on in the season is it’s about his legacy and how that impacts his daughter and his grandson and all the other people around him.

Kinnaman was extremely emotional while filming the last episode, as he revealed to TV Insider, especially when his former co-stars joined him for the last scene. 

What is Apple TV’s Star City About?

Star City is set within the world of For All Mankind but acts as a prequel and parallel narrative expansion of the franchise. According to Apple TV Press, this new series is a propulsive paranoid thriller that tells the story of the space race in its alt-history narrative. But unlike the OG series, this will focus on the Soviet Union and how it became the first nation to put a man on the moon. 

But 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 program, and the risks they all took to propel humankind forward.

As the creators, Ben Nedivi and Matt Wolpert, explained to Radio Times, the new show will have plenty of Easter Eggs and will be set in the 1970s. Moreover, it will also not have time jumps like FAM, which makes it easier for the production to not age their characters.

The show will explore the intense political paranoia and immense human cost paid by the Soviet team, who were pushed to their absolute limits to secure and maintain Russia’s lead in the space race. 

What do you think about the upcoming show? Let us know in the comments below.

For All Mankind Season 5 can be streamed on Apple TV+, while Star City premiered on the platform on May 29.