Game of Thrones was the epic fantasy series of the 2010s, and a lot of shows that came after were clearly trying to capture some of its sheen. That includes Foundation, Apple's adaptation of Isaac Asimov's science fiction novels. The stories don't have much in common when it comes to the plot, but they're both sweeping epics that require a ton of resources and time to do right. "The plan for [Foundation], as I understood it, was to have eight seasons," star Jared Harris (Hari Seldon) recently told Radio Times. "There's no way of knowing whether they'll achieve that – the only way of knowing if we'll achieve that is people tune in. If people are watching, then they'll be encouraged to make more seasons."
That's another way Foundation recalls Game of Thrones. Recently, studios have been getting cold feet about their investments into these big sweeping fantasy stories, and cancelling shows just as they're getting really good; Exhibit A is definitely The Wheel of Time, Amazon's adaptation of Robert Jordan's classic book series that it callously torpedoed after three seasons, even though that third season was easily the best yet.
To its credit, Apple has developed a reputation for giving shows space to breathe even if they have yet to build the kind of huge audience Game of Thrones had at its peak. "In the beginning, it used to drive me nuts that [creator] David Goyer would refer to [Foundation] as Game of Thrones in space, or something like that," Harris recalled. "[But] Game of Thrones didn't really kick off until the Red Wedding, and that was season 3, and then people caught up with it."
"So trying to attract a fanbase and an audience base towards a show takes time, and you have to allow the storytelling to catch up and the audience to catch up. If there is a breakthrough moment, it'll happen here, hopefully."
I think it's a bit of an exaggeration to say that Game of Thrones didn't "kick off" until the Red Wedding, which happened in its third season; the show had already made waves before that, but it's true that the Red Wedding marked a big jump forward in its popularity. And so far, reviews for the ongoing third season of Foundation have been very strong, with some critics saying it should be "the next Game of Thrones huge hit."
Will Foundation make it to eight seasons like Game of Thrones did? I don't know, but I completely agree that it's a good thing to let a show have the time it needs to try and build an audience, and I hope this third season captures people's attention.
Jared Harris teases challenges ahead in Foundation season 3
As for the show itself, season 3 picks up 150 years after the end of season 2. The galactic Empire is still slowly collapsing from within, as Hari Seldon predicted back in the first season. Meanwhile, characters like Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell) continue to try and guide the Foundation, a separate civilization designed to weather a coming dark age and make sure humanity doesn't die out.
"The challenge that Gaal and Hari have in that intervening 150 years is that they are late in developing the second Foundation, and they need to catch up," Harris said. "They need to utilize these people that Gaal has discovered who have similar abilities to her, to train them to be psychohistorians, so that they've got enough time to be able to get us to a point where we can get back on track."
"On the other side of the story, the other Hari, he's sort of pottering along thinking that everything's still developing in the way that he expected it to develop," Harris continued. However, he also is dealing with a really crucial piece of information that he discovered in season 2, which is that he's not in control of his own his own thoughts, even he's been digitally altered, his consciousness has been digitally edited, and that's created an existential crisis in the character."
They'll also have to deal with the Mule, a chaotic warlord so unpredictable that he disrupts the path laid out by psychohistory. He is played, appropriately, by Pilou Asbæk, who played chaotic warlord Euron Greyjoy on Game of Thrones; read our exclusive interview with him here.
New episodes of Foundation drop Fridays on Apple TV+.
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