Warning: Spoilers for the first three episodes of the show and the Foundation books follow.
Apple TV’s Foundation (read our review) is a sprawling space opera adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s science fiction spin on the fall of the Roman Empire, a series that spanned seven books written over the course of nearly four decades. Asimov’s original series and two prequels jumped decades or even centuries into the future, and changed protagonists, between entries, meaning showrunner David S. Goyer had to make some significant alterations to the TV version in order to produce a coherent show.
We’re three episodes into the series’ 10-episode first season, and there’s a lot of mystery and intrigue that’s only starting to unfold. So let’s dive into some of the biggest unanswered questions and what Asimov’s books might tell us about what the show’s writers have planned.
Anacreon and Thespis: Who Is Responsible for the Destruction of the Starbridge?
Asimov mentioned in the prequel novel Prelude to Foundation that Trantor, the planet that serves as the capital of the Galactic Empire, had an antigravity-powered elevator, but the show takes the concept and makes it far more important. The Starbridge serves as a symbol of the Empire’s might, and the depiction of its destruction is highly evocative of the fall of the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001.
The structure was seemingly destroyed by a pair of suicide bombers representing the warring planets of Anacreon and Thespis, who had recently run afoul of the Empire, yet their ambassadors claimed to have no knowledge of the attack. Unconvinced, the ruling emperor Brother Day (Lee Pace) ordered most of their diplomatic contingent executed and the planets bombarded.
The emperor’s chief advisor, Eto Demerzel (Laura Birn), notes that Day’s response was predictable. That violence may be why the attack was actually planned. Anacreon and Thespis exist on the edge of the Empire’s control, near the planet Terminus, where the mathematician and psychohistorian Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) and his followers are exiled. The Foundation created to preserve all human knowledge comes into conflict with Anacreon and other nearby planets in Asimov’s Foundation. If the show is presenting a more Machiavelian version of Hari, as it might be, he may have engineered the attack to ensure those planets were weakened to the point that they wouldn’t be able to destroy his fledgling colony.
Is Hari Seldon Dead?
This seems highly unlikely considering Seldon is such an important character in the Foundation series and Jared Harris is the show’s biggest star. Hari’s followers certainly believe him to be dead, but the circumstances of his murder by his adopted son Raych (Alfred Enoch) are strange. It is possible Raych actually killed him because he felt betrayed by the flaws the mathematical prodigy Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell) found in psychohistory, or he suspected the destruction of the Starbridge may be in part Hari’s fault, but it’s equally likely that he is playing his part in a plot. Hari thought he would be killed on Trantor, and might think that his martyrdom is important to the Foundation project’s success.
This is very different from the books, where Hari tells Gaal that he’s dying shortly after the exile and urges his protege to continue his work. No matter what, we are unlikely to have seen the last of Harris. In the books, Hari left a series of holograms of himself that share his psychohistory predictions with the Foundation. Also, the show’s writers seem fond of flashbacks, and Asimov wrote plenty of material involving Hari that Foundation the TV series hasn’t used yet.
Asimov wrote plenty of material involving Hari that Foundation the TV series hasn’t used yet.
Brothers Day, Dawn, and Dusk: How Does Imperial Cloning Work?
The cloning program is another invention of the show. In the books, it’s actually Cleon I who first meets Hari, not a clone of his 500 years removed. But the books also mention that emperors have a nasty tendency to be assassinated and control of Trantor has passed between dynasties. The cloning idea is a clever solution to the problem of succession, ensuring stability but also contributing to the Galactic Empire’s stagnation.
Foundation Episode 3 offers a glimpse of both the science and ritual involved in the process, which is overseen by the immortal robot Demerzel. But as the elder emperor Brother Dusk is declared Brother Night and pushed to walk into a disintegration chamber, he declares that something is wrong.
Is he just nervous about his own death or has something actually gone awry with the process? None of the emperors are allowed into the cloning chamber, which could just be because it would be an emotionally fraught experience. But it’s also possible that Demerzel is hiding something. Many science fiction stories involving clones imagine that their integrity declines over time and this may be the case with Cleon. No matter what, the clone dynasty may be in its final days.
What Is Demerzel Up to?
Asimov was a prolific writer, and along with his Foundation series he also wrote numerous novels and short stories about robots. In fact Asimov is responsible for inventing the very term “robotics,” along with a series of laws that robots must obey to prevent them from harming their human masters.
Demerzel is introduced in the book Prelude to Foundation as effectively the puppetmaster behind Cleon I, obeying the Zeroth Law of Robotics, which allows a robot to harm individual humans for the greater protection of humanity. He (the character is one of many who have been gender-swapped in the show) understands the harm that the fall of the Galactic Empire could do to the species, and works with Hari to perfect psychohistory in the hopes of reducing that calamity.
While the emperor clones have a lot more agency than Cleon I had in Prelude to Foundation, it’s a safe bet that they still don’t know everything about Demerzel. Besides being 20,000 years old, the book version of Demerzel also has the power to control human emotions. If Hari didn’t plot the destruction of the Starbridge himself, it’s possible that Demerzel did. She’d certainly have the access to the people and technology involved in both executing the attack and stymying the investigation, and would be a perfect judge of how Brother Day would react.
What Happened to Gaal Dornick?
After seemingly seeing Raych murder Hari, Gaal is shoved into a pod and sent into space. Again, this is really uncharted territory for the books, where Gaal doesn’t appear after the exile from Trantor.
The fact that Raych sent the knife with her could be important. It’s unlikely he’s actually trying to cover up his crime, but Gaal might need some of Hari’s blood for cloning or a genetic lock. The pod appears to put her in a state of stasis, which could also allow her to return to the show in the “present day” played by the same actor and without age makeup, even though decades have passed. It’s possible that Raych was just trying to protect his lover, fearing that she might be implicated alongside him in Hari’s murder, but her removal from the ship could also be part of a larger plot or even an insurance policy in case something went wrong with the colony vessel. Don’t forget, Hari’s whole thing is seeing many steps ahead!
What Is the Vault?
Asimov’s very first Foundation story, “The Encyclopedists” (which would later be combined with other stories to form the first book), mentions a Time Vault that plays a holographic recording of Hari at a programmed moment of crisis to tell his followers how he predicted they would react and test his theory of psychohistory. The title of the third episode, “The Mathematician’s Ghost,” hints at that purpose with children of Terminus citing rumors that a ghost can be seen in the artifact — likely the hologram of Hari. However the “null field” that knocks out almost everyone that comes near it is an invention of the show.
What Is Going On With Salvor Hardin?
The show’s version of Salvor Hardin (Leah Harvey) is extremely different from the one Asimov wrote. In Foundation, Salvor isn’t a rifle-toting warden fighting off alien megafauna, but a figurehead mayor of Terminus, beholden to the leaders of the Foundation and their work on the Encyclopedia Galactica. However Salvor, who was also gender-swapped in the show, overthrows that leadership because he believes it’s the best way to protect the settlement from being conquered by Anacreon.
Beyond being a significantly more action-oriented leader, the show’s version of Salvor also seems to have psychic powers that both protect her from the influence of the null field and give her visions of a child leading her to find the Anacreons. It’s unclear why that’s the case, but it’s possible it’s a mutation caused by the radiation and other harsh conditions experienced by the colonists on their long journey to Terminus.
Development of mental powers is a major part of Asimov’s third Foundation novel, Second Foundation, and it seems like the show’s writers are trying to ensure that plot doesn’t feel like a nonsequitur should the TV show make it to that point in the books.
Why Are Anacreon Forces on Terminus?
In Foundation, Anacreon leads an alliance of planets that have declared independence from Trantor and seek to steal power and technology from Terminus to further their goals. It’s possible that the Anacreons have the same mission in the show, though they may also suspect that the Foundation had some role in the attack that led to the devastation of their planet. They might even just be bitter that Hari and his followers received a comparatively lighter sentence seemingly in part because the emperor was shaken by the destruction of the Starbridge.
What do you think of these questions? And do you have a question (or answers) about Foundation? Let us know in the comments!
