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Foundation: Apple TV+ Releases Series Trailer for Isaac Asimov Adapt

At today's online 2020 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple TV+ had a pleasant surprise for fans of Isaac Asimov's sci-fi novel trilogy "Foundation": a first-look at the upcoming series adaptation starring Lee Pace (Halt and Catch Fire) and Jared Harris (Chernobyl). While not set to hit the streaming service until 2o21, the clip below does an amazing job giving viewers a sense of just how epic and grand Apple TV+ and Skydance Television are going with the project. Even more impressive was the amount of footage they were able to screen considering production was shuttered over COVID-19 pandemic concerns back in March.

Apple TV+ and Skydance Television's Foundation series stars Pace (Halt and Catch Fire), Harris (Chernobyl), Lou Llobell (Voyagers), Leah Harvey (Fighting with My Family, Les Misérables), Laura Birn (Helene, The Innocents), Terrence Mann (Sense8), and Cassian Bilton (A Devil's Harmony) Feature film helmer Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) is attached to direct pilot, which highlights The Foundation: exiles who realize that the only way to save the Galactic Empire from destruction is to defy it.

Harris' Hari Seldon is a mathematical genius who predicts the demise of the empire, with Pace's Brother Day the current Emperor of the Galaxy. Llobell's Gaal is a mathematical genius from a rural, repressed planet, Harvey's Salvor is the protective and intuitive warden of a remote outer planet, and Birn's Demerzel is the enigmatic aide to the Emperor of the Galaxy (Pace). Mann's Brother Dusk is the eldest living member of the ruling family, while Bilton's Brother Dawn is the youngest living member of the ruling family, next in line to be Brother Day. David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight) and Josh Friedman (Avatar 2) developed the project, with Goyer serving as showrunner. Goyer also executive produces alongside Friedman, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Marcy Ross, and Robyn Asimov.

Originally published as a short story series in Astounding Magazine in 1942, here's an overview of Asimov's initial Foundation trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation):

For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future — to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save mankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire — both scientists and scholars — and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the Galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for a future generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation.

But soon the fledgling Foundation finds itself at the mercy of corrupt warlords rising in the wake of the receding Empire. Mankind's last best hope is faced with an agonizing choice: submit to the barbarians and be overrun — or fight them and be destroyed.

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