News Foundation Adaptation Series Officially Ordered by Apple

[David cgc]

Deadline is reporting that DS9's Alexander Siddig is going to be a regular cast member in season 3.

Spoiler: Early character description

"Siddig will play Dr. Ebling Mis, a self-taught psychohistorian and diehard fan of Hari Seldon." On Reddit, David Goyer coyly confirmed that he's related to the character Siddig played in the series premiere, Xylus, who was the lawyer that prosecuted Hari Seldon's show-trial for sedition.

 

[wayoung]

Spoiler: Character discussion

So a book character from The Mule section

 

[Marc]

Deadline is reporting that DS9's Alexander Siddig is going to be a regular cast member in season 3.

Spoiler: Early character description

"Siddig will play Dr. Ebling Mis, a self-taught psychohistorian and diehard fan of Hari Seldon." On Reddit, David Goyer coyly confirmed that he's related to the character Siddig played in the series premiere, Xylus, who was the lawyer that prosecuted Hari Seldon's show-trial for sedition.

Spoiler

I guess this time around Mis can go full potty mouth unlike the GALA-xy books

 

[1987SpaceGuy]

EXCLUSIVE UPDATED: Re-start of production has been postponed on season 3 of Foundation, the Apple TV+ saga that’s based on Isaac Asimov’s trilogy.

Issues with budgeting and physical production/ prompted the delay of filming in Prague and Poland, which had been scheduled to begin this month, sources tell Deadline. Cast and crew who had already convened for the shoot were told to return home while production issues are sorted out, with the budget brought down. No new start date has been set.

This is the second time Season 3 production has been paused on the series that stars Jared Harris and Lee Pace and chronicles the 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. According to sources, the sci-fi drama filmed for several weeks in spring 2023 before shutting down due to the strike. About a third of Foundation’s third season is in the can, sources said.

https://deadline.com/2024/02/foundation-start-of-production-postponed-apple-tv-drama-1235816449/

 

[Christopher]

Spoiler

I guess this time around Mis can go full potty mouth unlike the GALA-xy books

It's an interesting coincidence that they cast Siddig as Ebling Mis, because when I reread the books before watching the show, I mentally cast Robert Picardo as Mis.

(My other mental casting choices included Ben Kingsley as Hari Seldon, Benedict Wong as Salvor Hardin -- whom I recall mentally casting as Brian Dennehy decades ago -- Aldis Hodge as Hober Mallow, and Roddy McDowall as the Mule, though he didn't fit the physical description. For the Foundation sequels, I went with Sendhil Ramamurthy for Golan Trevize. For the Robot novels, I imagined Darren McGavin as Lije Baley and Phil Morris as Daneel Olivaw. I used to imagine Daneel as Robert Foxworth because of The Questor Tapes, but this time around, I felt the description of Daneel's bronze-skinned, square-jawed appearance suggested Morris in his prime.)

...the 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.

Wow, that's a really bad summary on Deadline's part. It's not about saving the Empire, it's about shortening the period of chaos after the Empire's inexorable fall. And it's an even worse summary of the show than it is of the books. Asimov portrayed a Galactic Empire as a basically benevolent thing, the only alternative to endless war and chaos, and his Foundation's end goal was to bring about a second Empire within a thousand years rather than tens of millennia. In the series, the Empire is unambiguously evil and the Foundation is actively trying to hasten its fall.

Which I have mixed feelings about. On the one hand, I did find Asimov's politics naive in my recent re-read; the idea of imperialism being benevolent is a relic of the era in which the series was written, and even then it was starting to become discredited. I prefer the idea of portraying authoritarianism as bad and democracy as good. But the show takes it way too far, making the Cleons so mass-murderingly evil that it's unpleasant to have so much of the series focused on them, and to be asked to sympathize with them.

 

[Verteron]

'Issues with budgeting' sounds worrisome. Is Apple getting cold feet supporting such a high budget series?

I hope not. It was just getting good.

 

[wayoung]

The age of throwing endless money at streaming is over.

 

[Verteron]

I suppose that may mean more CGI and fewer real shots of the glorious vistas that we saw so much of in S2.

 

[JoseNoodles]

'Issues with budgeting' sounds worrisome. Is Apple getting cold feet supporting such a high budget series?

I hope not. It was just getting good.

Yeah I heard about this on Bluesky, it's somewhat concerning.

 

[Morpheus 02]

I suppose that may mean more CGI and fewer real shots of the glorious vistas that we saw so much of in S2.

Or maybe LESS CGI and more talking heads? Because at this point they filmed quite a but not at all near the end of CGI

 

[Verteron]

Or maybe LESS CGI and more talking heads? Because at this point they filmed quite a but not at all near the end of CGI

Actually a huge amount of Foundation was done on location with real sets!

Even the space action was done partially with models.

They filmed in Iceland, Malta, The Canary Islands, like a dozen countries. The continued things this way in Season 2. Probably why it's so expensive...

 

[David cgc]

Deadline reports production on Foundation is set to resume March 6 in the Czech Republic and Poland, after sorting out "issues relating to budgeting and physical production."

Series’ co-developer/executive producer/showrunner David S. Goyer, who directed one episode in Season 1 and two in Season 2, will complete his outstanding writing and directing services and will remain involved as an executive producer but will not be directing further Season 3 episodes as previously planned. The production is in the process of securing directors for the multiple remaining episodes he had been assigned.

Foundation filmed for several weeks in spring 2023 before shutting down due to the strike. About half of the third season is in the can, sources said.
​

ETA: And another new cast member has been announced.

"[Troy] Kotsur will star as Preem Palver, the leader of a planet of psychics."

 

[Caretaker]

EP Bill Bost will serve as the new showrunner.

 

[wayoung]

Goyer retains the title, which is a fun bit of lawyer speak for no longer doing the job but keeps the title with no real power.

a representative for the production says he will retain that title (contrary to an earlier version of this story).

Another line producer is out.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t...teps-down-showrunner-season-3-1235834630/amp/

 

[Verteron]

Doesn't really bode well does it. Creative differences inevitably leak through to the finished product, especially if it's studio interference. I'm not gonna write it off yet but I guess we'll see how Season 3 is when it drops.

 

[wayoung]

Kinda getting American Gods vibes

 

[CaptainWacky]

Is Jane Espenson still writing on it at least? I thought season 2 was an improvement compared to 1 in terms of writing and I (fairly or not!) gave her the credit.

 

[Christopher]

Is Jane Espenson still writing on it at least? I thought season 2 was an improvement compared to 1 in terms of writing and I (fairly or not!) gave her the credit.

I think that is fair, or at least I had the same opinion. There was definitely a lot more character humor in season 2, and we know Espenson's good at that.

 

[David cgc]

Deadline is reporting eight new cast members joining for season 3. Cherry Jones, Pilou Asbæk, Synnøve Karlsen, Cody Fern, Brandon P. Bell, Tómas Lemarquis, Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing, and Leo Bill.

Spoiler: Character names

Jones plays Foundation Ambassador Quent; Asbæk portrays Warlord; Karlsen plays Bayta Mallow; Fern is Toran Mallow; Bell plays Han Pritcher, Lemarquis portrays Magnifico Giganticus; Wong-Loi-Sing is Song; and Bill plays Mayor Indbur.