The Foundation is a seminal science-fiction
series and it should not come as a surprise that
filmmakers tried to adapt it for the big screen.
The initial plan was to adapt the Foundation
Trilogy as a three-part movie series similar to The
Lord of the Rings, but that plan ultimately failed
and the filmmakers turned to television. Initial
plans were discussed as early as 2014 but it
wasn’t until 2018 that Apple actually ordered the
series that was set to premiere on Apple TV+.
In the paragraphs that follow, we are going to
discuss what we know about the series.
The Foundation is set to premiere sometime
in 2021 on Apple TV+ with its first season, that
received a 10-episode initial order. David S. Goyer
and Josh Friedman were hired as showrunners
and creators, with Goyer saying that “... with
Foundation we can tell the story, hopefully, over
the course of eighty episodes; eighty hours,
as opposed to trying to condense it all into
two or three hours for a single film”. Goyer’s
statement tells us that the producers have a very
ambitious plan for Asimov’s masterpiece, which
is something we are certainly looking forward to.
The filming of the series started somewhere
around the beginning of 2020 and it was initially
suspended for a while because of the COVID-19
pandemic and the restrictions imposed by the
Irish government. Filming resumed in October
2020 and soon moved to Malta, after the crew
satisfied all of the government criteria imposed
for foreigners entering the island country. Filming
was completed in February 2021.
The first cast members were revealed as early as
October 2019, when it was confirmed that Jared
Harris was cast as Hari Seldon, while Lee Pace
was cast as Brother Day, the Galactic Emperor.