What is the Foundation season 3 release date? In the wake of planetary destruction, robot revelations, and some eye-catching mind powers, Foundation season 2 has come to an end. Apple TV’s most impressive sci-fi series will now lay dormant until it’s revived like yet another Cleon from the Principium.
We absolutely love Foundation. Based on Isaac Asimov’s ambitious series of stories about Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) and his centuries-spanning ideas of psychohistory, it’s definitely among the best sci-fi series out there today. Season 2 concluded in explosive fashion as the Second Crisis was resolved, with plans afoot for an even bigger confrontation to come if one of the best TV series on Apple TV Plus gets the green light to return to our screens.
After all the excitement of Foundation season 2 episode 10, we’re certainly ready to start looking ahead to the Foundation season 3 release date. There are some big spoilers for Foundation season 2 ahead, so tread carefully if you’re not fully up to date on one of our picks for the best Apple TV shows.
Foundation season 3 release date speculation
We’d expect to see Foundation season 3 in 2025 if it follows the previous gap between seasons, but Apple hasn’t officially confirmed the return of the show just yet.
Of course, the elephants in the room here are the 2023 Writers Strike and the 2023 Actors Strike. Until this industrial action comes to an end (hopefully with writers and actors getting the money they deserve), there can’t be any forward momentum for Foundation, even if the next season is commissioned.
Showrunners David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman revealed that they have the story planned until the end of a fourth season, as well as certain milestones beyond that. However, they’re prepared to adapt depending on how much more of the show they get to make. We hope they get plenty of time to expand the world.
Foundation season 3 cast speculation
Jared Harris and Lou Llobell are very likely to lead the Foundation season 3 cast as Hari Seldon and Gaal Dornick, while Laura Birn will almost certainly return as the android Demerzel and we’d expect to see more of Mikael Persbrandt as dangerous villain The Mule.
In the final scene of Foundation season 2, the story jumped 152 years into the future. We saw The Mule, in the heat of war, vowing to find and destroy Gaal Dornick before she could find him. Persbrandt will have far more to do in the third season after looming over season 2 as an ambiguous but deadly future threat.
Dornick and Hari Seldon both entered cryosleep at the end of season 2, vowing to emerge for a day each year to watch over the Mentalics as they become the Second Foundation. So we know they’re both very likely to make it into the future.
The question, though, is whether this future timeline will be the only one in Foundation season 3. We learned during the second season finale that the First Foundation survived the destruction of Terminus by escaping into the Vault. But they can’t live for another 150 years. We expect we’ll spend some time visiting them, as well as jetting off into the future.
As for the Empire, android puppet master Demerzel will still be around and we saw her decanting three new Cleons. So, despite the best efforts of Cleon XVII and his plans for Queen Sareth, the Genetic Dynasty lived on. We’ll be seeing the latest Cleons when the new season comes around.
Possible Foundation season 3 cast list:
- Jared Harris as Dr Hari Seldon
- Lou Llobell as Gaal Dornick
- Laura Birn as Demerzel
- Lee Pace as Brother Day
- Terrence Mann as Brother Dusk
- Cassian Bilton as Brother Dawn
- Ella-Rae Smith as Queen Sareth
- Isabella Laughland as Brother Constant
- Kulvinder Ghir as Poly Verisof
- Mikael Persbrandt as The Mule
- Oliver Chris as Director Sermak
What will Foundation season 3 be about?
The Foundation season 3 plot will delve into the future and deal with Seldon’s Third Crisis, as well as the conflict between the Mentalics and The Mule.
We know that Gaal and Hari are going to check in once a year on the Mentalics, guiding them as they grow into the Second Foundation after the death of Tellem Bond (Rachel House). They’re ultimately headed for a conflict with The Mule, who has very strong Mentalic powers of his own.
Demerzel also has a huge part to play in the future, having tried to reset the Genetic Dynasty by decanting three new Cleons at once. With the core DNA of the Cleons apparently corrupted centuries ago, she may find future Emperors even harder to control than the three who almost brought the whole edifice down in season 2.
The rest of the story depends completely on whether the show exists solely in the future after that enormous 150-year time jump, or whether we check in with the First Foundation. We’d certainly love to see more of Brother Constant, Poly, and the rest of them.
There’s also the small matter of the rogue Brother Dawn, who’s due to have a baby with Queen Sareth. Can Demerzel let that happen?
Is there a Foundation season 3 trailer?
There isn’t a Foundation season 3 trailer just yet and we’re expecting a long wait because the show hasn’t started production.
But while you wait for the return of Hari Seldon and his centuries-spanning masterplan for the future of humanity, it’s time to take a look behind the scenes. There are some terrific visual effects in Foundation and this featurette spotlights how they achieved some of the biggest moments.
Where can I watch Foundation season 3?
Foundation season 3 will stream exclusively on Apple TV Plus, just like the previous seasons.
You can revisit both of the first two seasons of Foundation on Apple right now, while there’s plenty of other great sci-fi to watch, including Invasion and For All Mankind. That’s not to mention completely different stuff like one of the best comedy series around, Ted Lasso, and the genre-bending whodunnit The Afterparty.
How many episodes will be in Foundation season 3?
We expect Foundation season 3 to run for ten episodes, to match up with seasons one and two.
That’s everything we know about Foundation season 3 for now, but we’ll update this guide with any dispatches from Trantor or Ignis in the near future. We’ve also explored why Foundation’s biggest Asimov book change is actually for the best and explained why Raych killed Hari Seldon, as well as discussing how Foundation season 2 made meaningless deaths meaningful.
In the meantime, learn more about the future for one of the best streaming services with updates on the For All Mankind season 4 release date and the Severance season 2 release date. We’ve also explained why For All Mankind is the natural successor to Star Trek.
