Foundation producer teases “more accessible” season 2

David S. Goyer has been at the forefront of numerous successful sci-fi and fantasy shows in recent years. Most notably, he helped develop Netflix’s popular adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. And he’s the showrunner behind Apple TV+’s sprawling sci-fi epic Foundation, which returns for its second season this week!

While Foundation season 1 went down well among audiences, viewership could have been better. This is perhaps due to being on AppleTV+, which was still a junior streaming service at the time. Based on Isaac Asimov’s novels, it tells quite a complex story. There’s a lot of exposition in season 1, which some viewers found quite jarring. However, as we move into season 2, Goyer says that it’s going to become easier to watch.

“One of the things that you’ve alluded to was season one had a lot of heavy lifting in terms of exposition and dramatic pipelining that we had to do,” Goyer told Gizmodo. “It took the greater part of, I think, three episodes in season one. But all of that exposition, we already did, so I felt like we could hit the ground running with the first episode of season two. And frankly, we just had a lot more real estate to dig into the characters, both old and new. So I just didn’t feel that burden of exposition with season two that we did in season one.”

Expect fewer time jumps too. There will be flashbacks, although there won’t be whole segments of the story set many years apart like in season 1.

"We wrestled with some of the time jumps in season one and we just couldn’t figure out a way how not to embrace them; I suppose perhaps House of the Dragon had some similar things that they had to wrestle with. But season two plays out very much in a linear fashion."

Foundation season 2 is a little more comedic that season 1

Sometimes science fiction shows like Foundation can get mired in doom and gloom. While Foundation season 1 was a pretty grim affair, Goyer says the new episodes embrace humor when the time is right. “By no means is it a comedy,” he said, “but I think the story is broad enough and big enough that you can have some moments of levity.”

Lee Pace gets naked in Foundation season 2 fight scene

In a new clip from season 2, we see Brother Day (Lee Pace) fighting a group of assassins…nude. Yeah, just watch the clip:

Speaking about filming this fight scene, Pace revealed all. “I was pretty naked,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “You know, I don’t mind being [naked]. It’s a crowded set of people, so I’m not gonna be obnoxious about it. But also, I’m not gonna go through a whole thing of slipping on shorts between every take.”

He wasn’t totally naked, just FYI. “I was definitely wearing something, but it’s not a big deal. It’s just a body. That’s my feeling about it.”

Foundation returns for its second season on July 14. Catch it on Apple TV+!

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