Foundation (TV series)

Foundation is an American science fiction streaming television series created by David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman, based on the Foundation series of novels by Isaac Asimov. The series premiered on Apple TV+ on September 24, 2021.

The show follows a band of exiles on their monumental journey to save humanity and rebuild civilization amid the fall of the Galactic Empire. Hari Seldon, a mathematical genius, develops a theory of psychohistory, which predicts the inevitable collapse of the Empire and a subsequent dark age lasting thirty thousand years. To mitigate this disaster, Seldon establishes the Foundation, a group of scientists and engineers tasked with preserving human knowledge and accelerating the recovery of civilization. The series interweaves multiple storylines across vast stretches of time, focusing on the Seldon's Foundation, the decaying Empire, and various key individuals whose choices determine the fate of humanity.

The series stars Jared Harris as Hari Seldon, Lee Pace as Brother Day (a clone emperor), Lou Llobell as Gaal Dornick, Leah Harvey as Salvor Hardin, and Laura Birn as Eto Demerzel.

Foundation has been praised for its ambitious scope, visual effects, and exploration of complex themes, but has also drawn criticism for diverging significantly from the source material and its pacing. Despite the mixed critical reception, the series has been renewed for a second and third season.