The third season of Foundation premieres this week! The sci-fi show is based on Isaac Asimov's ambitious sci-fi novels about a galactic empire on the edge of collapse, and the people who see it coming and splinter to create their own separate society capable of withstanding the coming catastrophe.
One of the most interesting aspects of Foundation has been the Cleons, a trio clone emperors who have ruled for hundreds of years? There are three active at any given time: Brother Dawn, the youngest (Cassian Bilton); Brother Day, who's generally the dominant one (Lee Pace); and Brother Dusk, who has one foot out the door (Terrence Mann). Ahead of the season 3 premiere, WinterIsComing writer Benedetta Geddo got to talk to all three!
She also spoke with Laura Birn, who plays Demerzel; Demerzel is a robot attendant who has served the Cleonic dynasty for generations, patiently carrying out orders as new Cleons have come and gone. Read Benedetta's interview Lee Pace and Laura Birn below:
Interviews have been edited for clarity and length.
WinterIsComing: I just wanted to start by asking you how it was to return to such a sprawling sci-fi world, because obviously you've both done genre fiction before, but I suppose that a world of this scope has a certain feeling to it that is maybe unique.
Laura Birn: Yeah, very unique...I've never been part of anything this big. And it just keeps surprising me. Every season we come back, I think the sets are even more breathtaking each year, and the new characters are so much more interesting....The ambition grows and grows while we do it...[E]very time, it's such a joy to come back.
Lee Pace: And it's always evolving, it seems like. It seems like one of the mandates on the show is to reverse things and switch them and change them. And now we'll jump 150 years, and the galaxy is in a very, very, very different place than it was before. And the characters, some of them, I mean, my character in particular, is a very different character than it was before.
WIC: That's the great thing about characters like Brother Day and Demerzel. They are the same character, but they're never the same character.
Pace: Cleon is messy and very human. And when I say human, I mean small-minded. And Demerzel is not human and has a very big mind and a lot of secrets. So although she doesn't change, there's an infinite amount you can find out about her in her stillness, in her kind of quiet action. So Cleon is nothing but bumbling ego kind of marching through the galaxy in different bodies, driving people nuts...I think he generally every season is driving people crazy. But also I think one of the pleasures of the show is beating up on him, and putting him through hell, and watching him suffer a little bit. So we do that this season, too.
Cassian Bilton (Brother Day) and Terrence Mann (Brother Dusk) talk Foundation season 3
WiC: I wanted to start by asking you how it was to return to such a massive world like that of Foundation. I wonder if all of the sci-fi lore is intimidating a bit or just really exciting.
Cassian Bilton: I think it's nothing but exciting. I think every time we read these scripts, we as actors but also as audience members and fans of the show, are astounded by how this show seems to grow and grow and somehow become bigger and bigger and have a larger sense of scale each and every time. I'd say the singular feeling when we got those scripts was, 'wow, I can't wait to get to set. I want to be on set tomorrow and start making this thing.'
WiC: One of the appeals of the Cleons is that they are the same person, but not the same person at the same time. How is that for you as actors? They're the same person, but they're not. They always change.
Terrence Mann: I think we've got to make the distinction that saying they're not the same person is not actually the concept as I understand it. We're three individual babies that were born. Our DNA is very similar, but we're three individual people that are in a concept of a construct of ruling that Cleon the 1st established; that you start out as a young person, you go to the middle throne and you go to the dusk throne, then you go to darkness, and then you die at 100 years. So inside of all of that, we are very individual people. And we're only ever reacting to what the storyline is giving us politically or socially or physically. But for us, as the three Cleons, we're brothers. We have a familiarity and a familial sense of one another that has bonded us, you know, and we love each other.
WiC: Do you practice the synchronized movements when all three Cleons are in the scene together?
Bilton: Big time, big time. We have a choreographer on set and it's almost like a dance sequence, those bits. I'd love to say it's my favorite part of the show. Eating a meal and going, 'ding, dong, ding, dong,' and doing all that; it takes a lot of effort to try and make those moments all work together. But honestly, watching the final product makes it all so worth it, because I think it's really rewarding for audiences to see how interconnected we are. And it's a lot of fun. I mean, it is ultimately a slightly silly but kind of brilliant part of the show, that we are identical.
I mean, there's something about Foundation...Not only are we actors in the show, but we're also kind of, at this point, fans of the thing we're making. And I remember when Cherry Jones, who plays Ambassador Quent, came onto set, we were all in awe of her as an actress, and we're all sitting at the dinner table, and we pick up our napkins, and she's like, 'Are you all going to do the napkin thing?' People clearly like it and there's something about doing that that makes us feel like the Cleon family that we are.
The third season of Foundation premieres on Apple TV+ this Friday, July 11!
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