Is this the next Game of Thrones?
Indeed, Goyer was determined to make this adaptation feel as pertinent as possible, by weaving in very contemporary-feeling themes. “Asimov was doing the same thing,” he says. “He wasn’t writing about the distant future. He was writing a post-World War Two environment. He was talking about Nazi Germany. He was talking about being a Jew who had emigrated from Russia. He was talking about the old empires of Europe collapsing and the ascendancy of America. The first thing I said to the Asimov Estate is that Asimov crafted Foundation to be a mirror so I need to write about what’s happening now. I need to write about Brexit, MeToo, the ascent of nationalism again. I need to write about climate change.”
The series depicts religious and political extremism, mistrust of established leaders, suspicion of science – issues you will see reflected every day in the pages of any newspaper. “We are talking about what’s happening today but through the tinted glass of the future,” says Goyer. “Asimov’s message in Foundation was fundamentally a message of hope and I felt that was a message that the world could use right now – faith in human ingenuity.”
The challenge of realising Foundation’s vision
There are more than 100 characters in the cast and auditions were held in 17 cities around the globe. Much of the filming was done at the Troy Studios in Limerick and the show is Ireland’s largest ever production, employing more than 500 crew members. Fifty artists worked on designing 170 sets, 13 different types of space-craft and six different planets, each with their own scripted language, and hundreds of carpenters, metalworkers, painters and plasterers realised their vision.
“It was a military campaign,” says Goyer. “Especially during the pandemic. We had to keep everyone safe. We had our own Covid testing lab that travelled with us from country to country. Everyone got tested three times a week. We would have to charter flights from country to country. And we were bubbled up. It was 500 to 600 people who didn’t interact with anyone else for about eight months so we were incredibly close, but it was difficult.
“Trust me, there were plenty of times when I said: ‘Oh my God, what have I gotten myself into?’ I’d call my wife from the side of a mountain in Iceland or from the middle of a dust storm in the Canary Islands and just say ‘What have I done?’. I had to try to root everyone in emotion because we filmed it all out of order. We might be filming a scene when the preceding scene had literally been filmed 14 months ago in another country, so you have to remind everyone where they are emotionally.”
But now, after four years of hard work there are 10 episodes of visually stunning, emotionally engaging, thought-provoking drama. They have already been made available to critics and are so richly layered that they bear an instant rewatch.
The younger cast members have been excitedly tweeting about the show as the launch date approaches. “When we were filming, myself and a lot of the cast would stop in the hallways and talk about the show, as though we were watching it, like ‘Can you believe that? I can’t believe she did that!’,” says Harvey. “It’s going to give people a lot to talk about. I can’t wait for people to see it.” And what about the prospect of more seasons, as yet unconfirmed? Will Goyer get the chance to continue with his vision? “I can’t speak to that,” he says. But he’s smiling as he says it.
The first two episodes of Foundation premiere on Apple TV+ on 24 September with episodes arriving weekly thereafter.
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