Foundation: Apple TV+ Releases Teaser for Isaac Asimov Series

As part of its online WWDC20 conference today, Apple revealed a first look at its upcoming adaptation of the Isaac Asimov sci-fi classic Foundation. The clip incorporates footage from the series along with a brief interview with Goyer.

“People have been trying to make Foundation for over 50 years,” Foundation executive producer and showrunner David Goyer says at the beginning of a new teaser. Goyer isn’t kidding. Foundation has been the subject of many attempted adaptations, with the most recent being a Jonathan Nolan-produced project for HBO in 2014. And from the look of said teaser, it’s clear why so many others have tried.

Give it a look below:

Some of the visuals from the teaser look quite familiar, which makes sense given Foundation’s uh, foundational, influence in modern science fiction.

“Foundation was an enormous influence for Star Wars,” Goyer says. “It was the greatest science fiction work of all time. The scope is sprawling. It unfolds over the course of 1,000 years.”

Foundation was originally published as a series of eight short stories in Astounding Magazine from 1942 through 1950 by prolific sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov. The first four stories were collected for the novel Foundation in 1951. The remaining stories were published as the novels Foundation and Foundation and Empire in 1952, and Second Foundation in 1953, forming what is now called “The Foundation Trilogy.” Asimov would write two new sequels and two new prequels in the ‘80s.

Asimov’s story is set in a future Galactic Empire which encompasses the entire Milky Way galaxy. When mathematician Hari Seldon uses his theory of psychohistory to predict the collapse of said empire, he begins the process of setting up two foundations of engineers and scientists to plan for the start of a second Empire. 

That would explain the following exchange between Seldon and Gaal from the teaser.

“You’re familiar with my work, psychohistory?” Seldon says.

“They’re worried you can predict the future,” Gaal responds.

“They’re worried people believe I can. And they don’t like the future I predict. 

Apple TV+’s logline for Foundation reads:

“The series chronicles the thousand year saga of The Foundation, a band of exiles who discover that the only way to save the Galactic Empire from destruction is to defy it.”

Foundation stars Jared Harris (Chernobyl) as Hari Seldon, Lee Pace (Guardians of the Galaxy) as Brother Day, newcomer Lou Llobell as Gaal, Leah Harvey (Fighting with My Family) as Salvor, Finnish actress Laura Birn as Demerzel, Terrence Mann (Sense8) as Brother Dusk, and Cassian Bilton as play Brother Dawn.

The show is set to premiere on Apple TV+ in 2021.