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TV
'Foundation' continues its journey across the stars to save humanity
Three seasons into “Foundation” and Lee Pace says there’s not a single day that’s the same.
In fact, one of his favorite aspects of the show is during each season, his character, Brother Day, is someone different.
“In the first season, I played a Cleon who believed in the mythology of the clones, that he was the emperor of the galaxy and an iteration of the first Cleon,” Pace says. “Later that season, the light bulb goes off and Cleon realized that actually he was an individual with his own choices and actions. In season two, I played Cleon (XVII), who thought he was the hero of the story, that the fate of the galaxy was in his hands, and he could repair everything by being the last Cleon. However, what I found so interesting about that character were all of his blind spots. He overestimated his own place in the galaxy because of how he was conditioned by Demerzel, the robot who raised him.”
“Foundation” is based on stories by Isaac Asimov.
According to Apple TV+, during the third season, the series continues the epic chronicle of a band of exiles on their journey to save humanity and rebuild civilization amid the fall of the Galactic Empire.
New episodes air each Friday through Sept. 12.
Pace says the new season is set 152 years after the events of season two, as The Foundation has become increasingly established far beyond its beginnings while the Cleonic Dynasty’s Empire has dwindled.
He says there is Empire, the collective appellation for the three clones — “Brothers” Day, Dusk and Dawn, played by Pace, Terrence Mann and Cassian Bilton, respectively — who rule their shrinking galactic possessions from the capital city Trantor with the assistance of the now thousands-of-years-old last robot in existence, Demerzel, played by Laura Birn.
As galactic powers forge an uneasy alliance, a threat to the entire galaxy appears in the form of a warlord known as The Mule, whose sights are set on ruling the universe by use of physical and military force, as well as mind control.
Pace says the new season is a differently laid chess board.
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“We now find Cleon XXIV, who doesn’t believe that the genetic dynasty is in control of the galaxy,” says Pace. “He hates Demerzel, who he thinks has not only ruined his life but is this wicked, manipulative force in the galaxy. When looking down the barrel of what is coming towards the Empire in season three, Day can see it, but he doesn’t have to care, which I think is very common in our world right now. It’s impossible to keep the big picture in mind, and so we avoid it.”
Pace says Day doesn’t believe he has any real power as the emperor.
“Dawn and Dusk are running the galaxy, and Day is living in the garden with a woman he’s very much in love with as well as drinking, gambling with the Clavigers and just enjoying himself,” says Pace. “He avoids any kind of state responsibility. So when he hears that the math stops in the Prime Radiant, a point where humanity comes to an end, Day just thinks, ‘Well, all right, there’s nothing we can do.’ I do think there’s hope inside of him, but he’s just weary of it all.”
Season three of “Foundation” introduces new characters and stars, including Cherry Jones, Brandon P Bell, Synnøve Karlsen, Cody Fern, Tómas Lemarquis, Alexander Siddig, Troy Kotsur and Pilou Asbæk. The series also stars returning cast Pace, Mann, Birn, Bilton, Jared Harris, Lou Llobell and Rowena King.
Writer and director David S. Goyer says he wanted to explore the dramatic and visually epic possibilities in Asimov’s works even more boldly.
“‘Foundation’ has always been this sprawling, operatic explanation of our speculative future,” explains co-executive producer and writer David Kob, who has worked closely with Goyer on all three seasons. “And just like our Earth’s history, there have been these inflection points. Some of them seem inevitable but in season three, we wanted to show the audience what it’s like when a malignant force is so powerful that it threatens to change everything we know about the galaxy and the universe and how the powers that be actually have to deal with that being flat-footed.”
