An adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s seminal work Foundation was a long time coming and we were treated to a lavish adaptation from Apple TV+ last year with a series based on the books. Now, Foundation will be coming back with Season Two and we have been given a first look (above) PLUS some new additions to the cast!
Based on Isaac Asimov’s award-winning stories, and featuring an international cast led by Jared Harris and Lee Pace, alongside rising stars Lou Llobell and Leah Harvey, the adaptation of Foundation chronicles the stories of four crucial individuals transcending space and time as they overcome deadly crises, shifting loyalties and complicated relationships that will ultimately determine the fate of humanity. The Apple Original drama also stars Laura Birn, Terrence Mann and Cassian Bilton.
“There’s a reason why Foundation hasn’t been made over the last few decades,” co-creator and executive producer David S Goyer told SciFiNow now last year when we spoke to him about the first season. “It’s been long regarded as notoriously hard to adapt. The story is supposed to unfold over 1,000 years. It’s anthological in nature. There are these big narrative leaps, very few characters continue on from one story to the next. They are brilliant books, but they’re books largely about ideas rather than characters or action.
“I myself was offered the opportunity to adapt it a few times as a feature, and I didn’t think it could be done as a feature, and I turned it down. It’s only now that I think the medium has matured with streaming, where we’ve seen some of these big novelistic shows that unfold over multiple seasons, that I think that the audience and the medium have matured to a point where I thought adapting Foundation would be possible.”
Now, Foundation is returning for Season Two, and with it a whole host set of stars to join the cast, including:
- Isabella Laughland (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1) as ‘Brother Constant,’ a cheerfully confident claric whose job is to evangelize the Church of the Galactic Spirit across the Outer Reach. Constant is a true believer, whose courage and passion make her hard not to love.
- Kulvinder Ghir (Goodness Gracious Me) as ‘Poly Verisof,’ – High Claric of the Church of the Galactic Spirit. Whip-smart and sardonic, he’s also a terrible drunk — intelligent enough to see the path he’s on, but too cynical to change.
- Sandra Yi Sencindiver (The Wheel Of Time) as ‘Enjoiner Rue,’ the beautiful, politically savvy consigliere to Queen Sareth. A former courtesan to Cleon the 16th, Rue parlayed her status to become a royal counsellor.
- Ella-Rae Smith (The Stranger) as ‘Queen Sareth’ of Cloud Dominion. Used to being underestimated, Sareth employs it to her advantage, charming her way into the Imperial Palace with biting wit, all while on a secret quest for revenge.
- Dimitri Leonidas (The One) as ‘Hober Mallow,’ a master trader with a sarcastic personality and questionable morals, who is summoned against his will to serve a higher, selfless cause.
- Ben Daniels (Jupiter’s Legacy) as ‘Bel Roise,’ the last great general of the Superliminal Fleet and would-be conqueror of the Foundation. Bel is noble to a fault, but his fealty to the Galactic Empire is waning.
- Holt McCallany (Nightmare Alley) as ‘Warden Jaegger Fount,’ the current Warden of Terminus and guardian of its citizens against external threats.
- Mikael Persbrandt (The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies) as ‘The Warlord of Kalgan,’ a monster of a man, coiled with muscle and possessing powerful psychic abilities, and fueled by hate in his quest to take over the galaxy.
- Rachel House (Cowboy Bebop) as ‘Tellem Bond,’ mysterious leader of the Mentallics.
- Nimrat Kaur (Wayward Pines) as ‘Yanna Seldon’
“I’m a big fan of sci-fi, specifically this kind of sci-fi, speculative fiction about what happens to humans off-planet, which is very different than some of the genre stuff I’ve done in the past,” star Lee Pace told us last year. “I think what Isaac Asimov comes to this with is a truly cerebral picture of what is a way to look at a human’s survival in our reality. He takes that reality off-planet and expands it throughout the entire Milky Way galaxy, and that’s the canvas we’re working with.
“Reading David Goyer’s scripts, I think he really solved the unfilmable elements of Foundation by creating some characters that have, in very different ways, figured out how to cheat death and take us through what could potentially be a 1,000-year story.”
Foundation Season Two will be released on Apple TV+. Season One is available now. Read our full interview with David S Goyer and Lee Pace here.