Everything You Need to Know About Foundation Ahead of Season 2

Foundation is based on Asimov’s stories, but given the sheer amount of source material, it’s more “inspired by” than rigidly “adapted from,” with a diverse cast and a carefully plotted array of storylines. Season one is necessarily given over to a bit of exposition, but it also uses narration and on-screen titles to keep viewers aware of where and especially when we are, since there’s a fair amount of jumping around in time.

Set in a reality where Earth exists but is no longer the center of the galaxy, Foundation imagines a universe ruled by Empire—a genetic dynasty cloned from Emperor Cleon I, who lived 400 years in the past. Three generations of “Cleons” are active at any given time, with fresh clones available to be decanted if replacements are needed. Their palace is on Trantor, which is also the planet where Dr. Hari Seldon, a brilliant mathematician who can predict the future using what he’s dubbed “psychohistory,” does his work. Just as a young prodigy, Gaal Dornick, arrives on Trantor to study with him, Seldon comes under fire for declaring that Empire will soon fall and humanity will subsequently plunge into a long period of darkness.

This doesn’t sit well with the Cleons, so they banish Hari, Gaal, and their followers to a far-flung planet called Terminus, where they’ll set up the Foundation—a place where human knowledge and culture will be protected and preserved during this inevitable time of darkness. Just before Hari’s group leaves, terrorists blow up Trantor’s massive space elevator; in response, the Cleons launch attacks on the two planets they deem responsible: Anacreon and Thespis, long-standing rival worlds located far from Trantor but close to Terminus.

In Foundation season one, we see the fallout from all of these actions, with a chunk of the story set decades in the future, when the Foundation has begun to take hold under the watchful eye of its Warden, Salvor Hardin. She’s the only person on the planet able to penetrate the forcefield around a mysterious structure on Terminus called “the Vault,” which was already in place when the Foundation settlers arrived. We also learn more about Gaal’s past, Seldon’s complex plan, and see the Cleons struggle when circumstances begin to chip away at their iron grip on the universe.

Hari Seldon (Jared Harris): a genius mathematician whose psychohistory portends the downfall of Empire. He contains his work in the “Prime Radiant,” which resembles an ornate paperweight but is powered by what appears to be a mix of quantum physics and sci-fi magic. He dies en route to Terminus—his choice, and not the last time he’ll do something seemingly unhinged to help get his math back on track—but re-enters the story later in the season as two different versions of himself, both digital copies: one on the ship carrying Gaal away from Terminus, which we’ll get into in the next slide, and one contained in the Vault (which turns out to have some very TARDIS-like capabilities).

Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell): Hailing from Synnax, a planet where science, math, and book-learning in general is banned for religious reasons, Gaal escapes to Trantor and soon becomes a believer in psychohistory—which gets her exiled to Terminus as part of Hari’s group. En route, she falls in love with Hari’s adopted son, Raych (Alfred Enoch), but after she witnesses Raych stabbing Hari to death—it’s complicated—Raych rushes her to an escape pod with the murder weapon, a bloody knife.

Three decades in the future, she awakens aboard an apparently empty starship and realizes the knife contains one of the digital copies of Hari’s consciousness. They reunite, but their relationship is fraught for obvious reasons—Hari’s reluctance to be truthful about the full scope of his plan is a big one; Raych’s execution for Hari’s assisted suicide, which Gaal learns about by accessing historical data, is another—and Gaal eventually takes off in another escape pod, this time headed back to her home planet. Near the end of season one, Gaal realizes she has latent psychic abilities and can sense the future. Gaal is also the narrator of season one.

Salvor Hardin (Leah Harvey): We meet Salvor several decades after the Foundation ship arrives on Terminus, when the fledgling settlement is starting to put down roots. As mentioned, Salvor is the Warden of Terminus—basically, in charge of keeping the peace—and she has the unique ability to get close to the mysterious Vault. In addition to being a kick-ass fighter, she’s able to sense when someone’s lying, and she’s also plagued by mysterious visions. She’s a key player when survivors from Anacreon attempt to invade Terminus, intent on using the Foundation’s expert minds and advanced tech as part of a revenge scheme against Empire.

That conflict takes up most of Salvor’s storyline in season one, and once it’s resolved, she learns the truth about her origins: she’s the biological child of Gaal and Raych, conceived in space, stored in embryo form during the journey, and carried by another set of parents once they arrived on Terminus. Startled by this revelation, and convinced it has something to do with the visions she’s been having and her connection to the Vault, she heads off in search of Gaal.

Empire, aka the Cleons—Brother Dawn (Cassian Bilton), Brother Day (Lee Pace), and Brother Dusk (Terrence Mann): Differently aged clones of Cleon I, who ruled 400 years prior to season one’s main timeline, though the Galactic Empire has been in place for 12,000 years. They are ostensibly identical, though their personalities have different shades (Dawn is more sympathetic; Day is more cruel; Dusk is more introspective), and as season one progresses we learn that the clones have been compromised by an anti-Empire faction and are not as identical as everyone assumes. The same actors play the different versions of Cleon throughout Foundation, which can be a bit confusing, though the show is careful to give context so you know which Cleon era you’re in.

In season one, the main Cleon storylines involve Day launching an elaborate charade to undermine a potentially powerful religious leader who believes clones don’t have souls, and Dawn, who’s become aware of his anomalies, falling in love with a palace worker who encourages him to run away—only to reveal herself as part of that anti-Empire faction. He’s executed and a new Brother Dawn takes his place.

Demerzel (Laura Birn): Empire’s constant companion, envoy, advisor, and keeper of order; everyone assumes she’s also a clone except the Cleons, who know she’s an android—the very last one after a long-ago war between humans and robots stamped others out of existence. Her loyalty is to Empire, full stop, and though this is an Asimov story, she’s not held to the Three Laws of Robotics. If she needs to kill on behalf of Empire... she will.

Adapted from the novels by Isaac Asimov, Foundation is overseen by showrunner and executive producer David S. Goyer (screenwriter or co-screenwriter of the Blade trilogy, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, Man of Steel, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), with Robyn Asimov (Isaac’s daughter), Alex Graves, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Bill Bost also serving as executive producers.

In the season finale, “The Leap,” Hari’s second digital copy—which emerges from the Vault before a shocked array of Foundation members on Terminus, including Salvor, and the Anacreons they’ve been battling—reveals the next steps of his plan, which season one has been following all along despite everyone who’s actually living in it feeling like they’re surrounded by chaos. In short, the Foundation members are supposed to join with the survivors of Anacreon and its historic rival, Thespis, to create a new civilization beyond Empire’s reach. To cloak this scheme, they use the Invictus—an Imperial warship the Anacreons were plotting to turn against Empire—to set off a false “megaflare,” which will trick those on Trantor into thinking life has been wiped out in the Outer Reach. Trantor is pretty preoccupied with the whole “Dawn tried to run away, and by the way Cleon DNA is corrupted and you guys aren’t really identical copies” thing—timing that works out really well for the Foundation, as it happens.

Meanwhile, as mentioned, Salvor learns Gaal and Raych were her biological parents, and realizes her visions offer a glimpse into their lives. With Terminus in a peaceful, productive place after the resolution of what Hari dubbed “the First Crisis,” she says good-bye to her adoptive mother and boyfriend, who are quite understanding and encouraging given the circumstances, and sets a course for Synnax. The last scenes are 138 years in the future; Gaal arrives on the fully flooded and abandoned planet, proof that ignoring science is especially bad when climate change is lapping at your doorstep. She discovers Salvor’s ship underwater and brings its escape pod to the surface—where there’s an unexpected family reunion as Gaal finds out Salvor is her daughter. Salvor gives her a souvenir from Terminus: Hari’s Prime Radiant. “Sometimes you leap, and sometimes someone catches you,” Gaal narrates as the season ends.

Here’s the official description provided by Apple TV+. No spoilers here! “More than a century after season one, tension mounts throughout the galaxy. As the Cleons unravel, a vengeful queen plots to destroy Empire from within. Hari, Gaal, and Salvor discover a colony of mentalics with psionic abilities that threaten to alter psychohistory itself. The Foundation has entered its religious phase, promulgating the Church of Seldon throughout the Outer Reach and inciting the Second Crisis: war with Empire.”

In the interest, again, of avoiding spoilers, we’ll use Apple TV+’s official character descriptions for these new faces that’ll be important in season two:

Brother Constant (Isabella Laughland): “A cheerfully confident cleric 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.”

Poly Verisof (Kulvinger Ghir): “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.”

Enjoiner Rue (Sandra Yi Sencindiver): “The beautiful, politically savvy consigliere to Queen Sareth. A former courtesan to Cleon the 16th, Rue parlayed her status to become a royal counsellor.”

Queen Sareth of Cloud Dominion (Ella-Rae Smith): “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.”

Hober Mallow (Dimitri Leonidas): “A master trader with a sarcastic personality and questionable morals, who is summoned against his will to serve a higher, selfless cause.”

Bel Roise (Ben Daniels): “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.”

The Warlord of Kalgan (Mikael Persbrandt): “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.”

Tellem Bond (Rachel House): “Mysterious leader of the Mentalics.”

Yanna Seldon (Nimrat Kaur): No official description for her, but the name gives away her connection to Hari.

Foundation season two premieres July 14 on Apple TV+. It will have a weekly release schedule for 10 weeks, with the season finale premiering September 15. Season one is now available for streaming on Apple TV+.

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