By the time you're reading this the "Foundation" season 3 premiere might already be live on Apple TV Plus.
Don't worry if you haven't seen it though, because this article will be spoiler-free.
I was recently given the opportunity to interview the cast of the Apple TV Plus sci-fi epic, which is based on Isaac Asimov's acclaimed book series of the same name, so I've actually already seen most of the upcoming season.
The good news? It's pretty good, and I've been told the finale should be spectacular.
But in the meantime, here's what I learned from my conversations with the cast of "Foundation" — including stars Lee Pace, Jared Harris and Lou Llobell — about what you need to know going into the season.
Here are my 10 biggest takeaways from those conversations. To make things easier, I've organized them by the actor (or actress) I discussed the topic with.
Lee Pace (Brother Day)
Lee Pace had to change 'everything' this season
By now, you've possibly heard that Pace's portrayal of the Cleonic Emperor, Brother Day, is a bit different this season. At the very least, you've probably seen the shirtless image of him at the top of the article.
"We’ve had some very serious Cleons and I think it was about time to see a goofy one."
— Lee Pace
So of course, I had to ask him about how you handle major changes to a character you're already so familiar with playing.
“I guess the biggest adjustment I had to make was that everything had to be different," Pace told me. "He’s a character who is rejecting the position he holds. He’s disillusioned. He doesn’t care about the culture of the emperors. He’s just a private person – he wants to mind his own business, which the emperors never do."
This version of Brother Day also has no time for Demerzel, the ancient robot who watches over the empire from behind the throne.
"He certainly doesn’t want anything to do with the robot, who’s all over him," Pace continued.
Ultimately, he just wanted to enjoy the opportunity. "I wanted to have a good time with him, Pace said. "I wanted to play with him. We’ve had some very serious Cleons and I think it was about time to see a goofy one.”
Cassian Bilton (Brother Dawn)
This Brother Dawn is the most powerful yet
One character who's directly impacted by Pace's Day deciding he doesn't want to be Emperor is Brother Dawn, played by Cassian Bilton.
So I asked him about what's different about his portrayal of Dawn this season, a character I described as quite easy to mold.
“I think that malleability comes as a consequence of youth, Bilton told me. "In season 1, [Dawn] has no idea who he is, and if he does have any idea, he doesn’t like it. In season 2, you start to see a Dawn slowly learning who he is, and is developing a confidence. I think when you meet Dawn in season 3, he is crystal clear on who he is and crystal clear on his goals.”
But just because our Dawn this season is self-assured doesn't mean this sci-fi drama will avoid ... well, the drama.
“At the same time," Bilton continued, "and this is a testament to our writers, a great thing to watch on television is someone being unbelievably clear about the plan and the plan going so fucking wrong.”
Terrence Mann (Brother Dusk)
Brother Dusk is concerned for his brothers, not his own mortality
It's not just Brother Dawn that's affected by Day's delinquency though. Brother Dusk, the third part of the Cleonic triumvirate, also feels the consequences of his younger brother's actions this season.
“At 100 years old, you die," Terrence Mann, who plays Dusk in the show, explained to me about his character. "You walk into the light and you’re turned to ash. So we all know that’s coming for all of us."
"But my whole thrust for this season was to make sure that I got Dawn into a position so that he could take the middle throne because Lee’s Day was gone," Mann continued. "So I had planned since the day [Dawn] was born to put things in place that would assure that he would be able to ascend the throne, but I’ve only got 14 days to do it now. So everything becomes desperate and urgent for Dusk, which makes him go and ask, ‘Can I live just a little bit longer?’”
Lara Birn (Demerzel)
Lara Birn believes Demerzel can love, even if it's just in her programming
Tying all the Cleons together, though, is Demerzel, the ancient robot who serves as mother, servant and at times lover to the various clones of Cleon I who rule the galaxy.
So I had to ask Lara Birn, who plays the immaculate looking centuries-old robot, if she thinks her character actually loves her captors/charges.
“I truly think she loves them, she said. "But then again, she’s programmed to love them. So how do we know if it’s only her duty or if there’s real [feelings]. But I think she feels genuine love for them. She raises them from babies. She’s the only person they have and they’re the only person she has. She’s a very lonely character, as are they.
"For example, she continued, "this season she makes a decision that’s not so rational but she does it for [the Cleons] because she cares. But then again, can she explore love freely? No. She’s programmed to do it. But I do believe in her love and I do believe they really mean something to each other. They’re trapped together. Their love is destructive but I do believe it’s love."
Pilou Asbæk (The Mule)
There's national pride on the line in playing The Mule
If you watched "Foundation" season 2, you know that The Mule is the new villain of season 3.
But we were still introduced to the character in season 2, and at that point, the character was played by Swedish actor Mikael Persbrandt.
Now, though, Persbrandt has left "Foundation" and taking over The Mule is Danish actor Pilou Asbæk.
When I asked him about taking over the role, he told me (mostly) tongue in cheek that there was some national pride fueling his performance this season.
“If you’ve worked a few years in this industry, you know that’s how it is [taking over for another actor], he said with a smile on his face. "That said, I know Mikael Persbrandt. He’s a Scandinavian brother of mine. He’s from Sweden and I’m from Denmark. And us Scandinavians have always been fighting a little bit."
"So on one hand," he contemplated, "I’m so thankful I’m stepping in the footstep of the giant Persbrandt. On the other hand, I can’t wait to meet him and go, ‘Well, you know what the Swedes do well? The Danes do better.’”
Asbæk feels drawn to the complexity of The Mule
After getting the fun question out of the way, I pressed Asbæk on the substance of playing The Mule.
Some of that conversation I'm saving for a future article, as it pertains to a later episode in season 3, but I will share this bit about what he said about what draws him to playing The Mule.
"For me, I personally love when I can find some vulnerability in the villains," he declared. "No one is born a villain; it’s something you become. Life, she treats you shitty sometimes sadly enough, and I think that’s the case with The Mule."
Lou Llobel (Gaal Dornick)
Gaal and The Mule are very similar — 'They’re kind of in parallel'
Lou Llobell's Gaal Dornick is probably the most integral character in "Foundation." It's probably reductive (and definitely sacrilegious) to say this, but if there's a Luke Skywalker-like character in "Foundation," it's her.
But if she's Luke, then arguably The Mule is Vader.
No, there are no daddy issues to speak of between the two, but they're both representative of the possible paths two people with similar powers and backgrounds can take.
“I think she definitely sees similarities," Llobel said of her character and The Mule. "And I think that scares her even more. I think it shows her that she has to be careful with her abilities because it can turn dark and dangerous. They’re certainly similar. They’re kind of in parallel. But it’s like dark and light. It’s even the way they convince people and they use their powers. They do the same thing but very differently.”
Put down the phone when watching season 3
I've written about this already, but if there's one thing you need to know about season 3, it's that you need to put down the phone while watching. Otherwise, you'll miss Llobel and Academy Award winner Troy Kotsur acting using American Sign Language.
"I learnt how to sign for the show," Llobel told me when I asked her what it was like to act with a deaf scene partner. "It was an amazing experience, Troy is incredible. It was such a different experience."
"I think it's come out really brilliantly," she added about their scenes together. "They're some of my favorite scenes."
Jared Harris (Hari Seldon)
The Mule 'invalidates psychohistory'
At this point, you've probably put together that “the big news of the season," as Jared Harris put it to me, is The Mule arriving as the show's new villain.
And unlike Foundation or Empire, The Mule brings something to the table that Harris' Hari Seldon cannot account for.
"The Mule largely invalidates psychohistory," Harris explained to me when I asked him about The Mule. "It’s not effective if you have a predictive model [psychohistory] that’s based on analyzing the behavior of large groups of people, if the behavior of the large groups of people is controlled by one person."
So when I asked him how that affected his portrayal of Seldon this season, he was able to put it in succinct terms: "It’s that gradual realization that the character [Hari] has lost control of the narrative.”
Hari is sick of being a god
“The being considered as a godlike figure was a necessary stage in season 2, Harris explained to me when I asked him about Hari's godlike status in "Foundation." "I think at this point, he’s [Hari] irritated by that, and he no longer wants that. He’s expressing a desire to reconnect with his humanity.”
When I then followed up that question by asking if the arrival of The Mule shakes the version of Hari that’s in the vault to his core, Harris posited that it’s the other version of Hari that shakes the character more.
“I think that what shook him more was the realization that he’s been edited by corporeal Hari," Harris elaborated. "That this information has been denied to him deliberately, and that he’s a puppet. He’s a piece on a chessboard. He’s not the puppetmaster, he’s not the grandmaster chess player, he’s just a piece on the chessboard. And for somebody with that level of ego, that’s going to shatter your sense of self. That’s what’s going to create the existential crisis."
In short, it's not The Mule that concerns Hari so much this season. "The Mule is actually sort of a recovery process for him, Harris explained, surprising me a bit, "because The Mule’s ability only extends to humans, and he [Hari] doesn’t have a body. He’s probably the only entity that’s immune to what The Mule can do.”
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Malcolm has been with Tom's Guide since 2022, and has been covering the latest in streaming shows and movies since 2023. He's not one to shy away from a hot take, including that "John Wick" is one of the four greatest films ever made.
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