foundation: release date, cast, storyline, trailer release, and everything you need to know.

Hit movies like I, Robot and The Bicentennial Man have previously been based on Isaac Asimov’s groundbreaking science fiction writings, but until now, his most well-known work has not been adapted for the big screen.

Asimov’s grandiose Foundation novels, which followed mankind living under the Galactic Empire’s control throughout the galaxy for generations, were long regarded as unfilmable. They were written over a period of fifty years.

Based on a highly acclaimed book series and boasting an enormous budget, Foundation has the potential to become the next great TV hit on par with Game of Thrones. It will also give Apple TV+, a new streaming service, its first big-budget blockbuster success.

Date of foundation release

The Foundation will debut on Apple TV+ on September 24, 2021.

Aiming to capture the vastness of the galaxy, the filming of Foundation took place all over the world, including Ireland, Malta, Fuerteventura, and Tenerife. Particularly, the Granja de Pozo Negro and Caldera de los Arrivals in Fuerteventura were utilized as volcanic landscape substitutes for alien habitats.

Not only was it difficult to adapt one of the most intricate book series ever written, but Foundation’s production was halted in March 2020, much like many other TV shows. October of that year saw the start of filming again, and the 19-month (!) shoot would finally end in April of 2021.

foundation cast

Fittingly for a science fiction epic with such grand ambitions, Apple has assembled an excellent ensemble. Starring in both The Crown and Chernobyl, Jared Harris is no stranger to big-budget television. Here, he plays mathematician Hari Seldon, who comes up with a theory that might topple the Galactic Empire.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, showrunner David S. Goyer attributed Seldon’s impact to the fact that “nobody understands his mathematics.” They are aware of his intelligence, but they are unsure of his veracity [about the fall of the Empire]. And the Empire is quite uneasy because of that.”

Lee Pace, who starred as the space-bound villainous Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy, will be joining Harris in the sky. Pace is set to portray Galactic Emperor Brother Day, an exact replica of the erstwhile monarch, Emperor Cleon.

Nevertheless, Brother Day has two “brothers” who were also cloned from Cleon: Brother Dusk, the oldest member of the royal family, and Brother Dawn, the youngest, are represented by Cassian Bilton (Shoal) and Terence Mann (Sense 8). In order to more accurately depict Cleon, who in the books primarily operated in the background, all three brothers are fresh characters for the TV series.

Dr. Gaal Dornick and Eto Demersal from the books will be portrayed by gender-swapped actors Lou Lobell (Voyagers) and Laura Birn (A Walk Among the Tombstones). Lobell plays Dornick, Seldon’s biographer, while Born plays Demersal, Brother Day’s assistant. Leah Harvey (Fighting with My Family) as Salvor Hardin, the mayor of Terminus; Alicia Gerrard (Ripper Street) as Yate Fulham; and Harry Potter star Alfred Enoch as Raych Seldon, Hari’s adopted son, complete the ensemble.

Behind the scenes, David S. Goyer, whose writing credentials include Man of Steel, The Sandman, and The Dark Knight Trilogy, will act as showrunner. He will also co-write multiple episodes and oversee the film’s climax.

Robyn Asimov, the daughter of Isaac Asimov, is also an executive producer.

Leah Harvey’s Foundation on Apple TV+ features the Foundation plot

“Chronicles a band of exiles on their monumental journey to save humanity and rebuild civilisation amid the fall of the Galactic Empire,” reads the summary of Foundation for Apple TV.

Eight short stories made up the original Foundation were eventually released as a trilogy in the 1950s. After thirty years, Asimov rejoined the Foundation series and published four more volumes, bringing the total number of books to seven.



It appears that Apple’s TV series will be adapting the first instalment of the original trilogy, which was aptly named Foundation. Asimov later included a prequel, Prelude to Foundation.

The book Centers on math prodigy Hari Seldon, who creates the field of “psychohistory,” a science that foretells the fall of the current Galactic Empire and a 30,000-year dark period that will precede the rise of a second Empire.

Seldon, however, also asserts that, under certain circumstances, this turbulent interim period could be shortened to a millennium. As a result, he is authorized to establish the Foundation, an assembly of the greatest scientists, engineers, and historians currently alive, whose job it is to preserve human knowledge in the Encyclopedia Galactica in preparation for this new Empire.

The Galactic Empire is not too thrilled about their supposed imminent downfall though, and banish Seldon to the remote and inhospitable planet of Terminus. It is here that Seldon encounters the Vault, a mysterious floating object that appears in Asimov’s books – and Goyer has promised we will find out what secrets lie within the Vault during season one.

But Seldon also establishes a second, enigmatic Foundation on the other side of the galaxy for reasons that are first unclear, laying the groundwork for an ambitious and intricate century-long story.

“It’s a 1,000-year chess game between Hari Seldon and the Empire, and all the characters in between are the pawns, but some of the pawns over the course of this saga end up becoming kings and queens,” Goyer said in his original pitch, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Foundation has garnered a lot of similarities to Game of Thrones. Goyer has disclosed that the fantasy series has also contributed to laying the groundwork for expansive novel adaptations that were previously regarded to be unfilmable.

Goyer said to Lovin Malta, “The audience is changing the way that we’re consuming stories.” “With Foundation, we can hopefully [tell] the story over 80 episodes, or 80 hours, as opposed to trying to condense it down into a two or three-hour film. Game of Thrones was one of the first to do a giant novelistic show.”

If Apple decides to order eight seasons, there is undoubtedly no shortage of source material to choose from. However, before anything else, we must wait and see if the tech titan decides to renew Foundation for a second season.

Foundation trailer

Despite still being halfway through production, Apple gave us a rather extensive two-minute first look back in August 2020. It features Goyer explaining how influential Foundation has been on science fiction and pop culture in general, before revealing the first footage of the series:

A full, official trailer was eventually released in August 2021 along with the announcement of the release date. It does a rather good job of explaining the somewhat unwieldy story, and features several stunning special effects:

Characters and the cast
principal

Jared Harris play mathematician Hariton “Hari” Seldon, who invented psychohistory—an algorithmic science that enables him to make probabilistic predictions about the future.

In addition to portraying Cleon I in his prime, Lee Pace plays Brother Day (Cleon I, XII, XIII, and XVII), the middle-aged member of a line of genetic clones of Cleon I, the Emperor of the 12,000-year-old Galactic Empire.

As Hari’s protege, Gaal Dornick is played by Lou Lobell. She is a self-taught young woman from Synnax, a planet where pursuing knowledge is deemed heresy. Gaal as a child is portrayed by Teyarnie Galea.

Leah Harvey plays Salvor Hardin, the Warden of Terminus thirty-five years following Seldon’s trial, the first crisis hero of the Foundation, and the daughter of Gaal Dornick.

Laura Birn plays the role of Demersal, one of the last living androids from the Robot Wars era and major-domo to the emperors

In addition to playing an elderly Cleon I, Terrence Mann plays Brother Dusk (Cleon I, XI, XII, and XVI), the oldest in a line of genetically identical copies of Cleon I who gave up on his role as Emperor.

As Brother Dawn (Cleon I, XIV, and XVIII), Cassian Bilton plays the youngest of a line of Cleon I genetic clones and Brother Day’s apprentice.

In season three, Alexander Siddig plays Dr. Ebling Mis, a self-taught psychohistories and ardent Hari Seldon enthusiast. In the first season, Siddig also played the prosecutor, Advocate Xylas, in Seldon’s trial.

Troy Kotsur as Preem Palver (season 3), the leader of a planet of psychics.

Recurring

 Daniel MacPherson as Hugo Crast (seasons 1-2), an intergalactic trader from Thespis who fell in love with Salvor Hardin; Alfred Enoch as Raych Foss (seasons 1-2), Hari Seldon’s adopted son

Abbas Hardin (season 1) played by Clarke Peters is a devotee of Seldon, the first Warden and Mayor of Terminus, and Salvor Hardin’s adoptive father.

Sasha Behar in Season 1 as Mari Hardin, Salvor Hardin’s surrogate mother and a disciple of Seldon

Elliot Cowan in season one as Lewis Pirenne, the Foundation’s Director and Hari Seldon’s first successor

Amy Tyger as Brother Dawn/Cleon XIV’s love interest and gardener at the Imperial Palace, Azura Odili (season 1).

Mido Hamada played the Imperial spymaster Shadow Master Obrecht in Season 1 of Cleon XIII’s reign.

Christian Contreras in the first season as Commander Dorwin, an Imperial commander tasked with looking into Terminus’s disappearance

Cooper Carter in the first season as the young Brother Dawn/Cleon XIII.

Kubra Sait in the first season as Grand Huntress Phara Keaen, the Anacreon’s senior military officer who personally oversees a raid on Terminus

In Season 2, Kulvinder Ghir plays Brother Constant’s mentor and friend, High Claric Poly Version, who was a young boy at the beginning of the Foundation.

Oliver Chris in the second season as Brother Constant’s father and the head of the Foundation, Director Sermak

Ella-Rae Smith in the second season as Queen Sareth, the consort of Cloud Dominion and future wife of Brother Day/Cleon XVII

Sandra Yi Sencindiver as Sareth’s counselor and retainer in Season 2 of Enjoiner Rue Corintha