Foundation—Apple TV+’s Isaac Asimov-inspired sci-fi series—is back for a second season that will introduce new characters and some mind-bending new plot threads. But first, we’ve got to check in with the familiar faces we left on a cliffhanger a year and a half ago. (Need a season one catch-up? We’ve got you covered.)
“In Seldon’s Shadow” was co-written by Jane Espenson and series creator David S. Goyer, and directed by Alex Graves. It stars Jared Harris as Hari Seldon, Lou Llobell as Gaal Dornick, Leah Harvey as Salvor Hardin, Laura Birn as Demerzel, and Cassian Bilton, Lee Pace, and Terrence Mann as Brothers Dawn, Day, and Dusk (aka the Cleons, aka Empire).
We open with a black-and-white Hari Seldon—or rather, one of the digital copies of his consciousness—alone in an empty room, ranting about Raych’s decision to put Gaal in the escape pod after his death in season one (“You were supposed to be the one in the pod, not her!”) and other less coherent things, like why gods made wine and knives, and his own self-frustration about not sharing his “great plan” with other people. Hari is freaking out and cracking up. Gaal’s narration cuts in, smooth as always: “There’s an old saying: any man can be a success, but it takes a madman to be great.”
