Fans of Foundation, the ambitious Isaac Asimov adaptation produced by Apple TV, are theoretically lucky to breathe easy. When a season says goodbye, the science fiction work already has another on the way although, unlike titles on the same platform such as Ted Lasso, The morning show or Secuestro en el aire, it does not usually enter the list of the most viewed series of American television. However, the already confirmed third season is having problems behind the cameras and David S. Goyer, co-creator, has abandoned the role of showrunner.
In May 2023, filming on Fundación, the series created by Josh Friedman and David S. Goyer, who also served as showrunner, had to close due to the writers' strike (and, later, the actors' strike that began in July ). From Deadline they reported that approximately a third of the third season commissioned by Apple TV had been filmed. But, after ending the strikes in the fall and planning to reopen filming for February 2024, it was finally delayed.
The same media outlet explained that the delay was due to differences between the Skydance team and the platform: Apple TV wanted the science fiction series to be cheaper and, in short, to be able to shoot the same thing with a lower budget. With a budget of 45 million for the first season, David S. Goyer had precisely achieved the unthinkable: an epic, intergalactic story, with multiple locations and impeccable visual effects for less than half the price of, for example, The House of the dragon or The rings of power.
The issue was also serious: both the technical team and the cast, who were already physically in the Czech Republic and Poland to shoot the finished scripts, returned to their respective homes until this issue, which had not so much to do with the performance of Foundation as with the situation of Apple TV. Like Prime Video, Disney and the rest of the competitors in the streaming market, the company is tightening its belt in the face of the mistrust generated by the sector, the difficulties of economically amortizing the content and the platforms' decision to reduce costs so much.
Now that Fundación is once again ready to resume recording the scenes, David S. Goyer partially disassociates himself from the project. He will work on the scripts from Los Angeles instead of moving to locations in Prague and Poland and, despite retaining the title of showrunner, he will no longer serve as such.
In his place, Bill Bost, also an executive producer, will go to supervise filming, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. And, according to the information, this decision is directly linked to the irreconcilable differences with Apple TV regarding the decrease in the budget.
Foundation is the adaptation that science fiction lovers believed impossible when addressing the evolution of humanity in space for hundreds of years, after mathematician Hari Seldon calculates that the Galactic Empire, which has been ruling the galaxy for millennia, is about to collapse. Seldon's goal is to found a Foundation that attempts to reduce the 8,000 years of barbarism that await humanity after the collapse of existing civilization.
Asimov, based on different stories, reflected on the idea of civilization, artificial intelligence, religion, the manipulation of the masses or free trade.
The adaptation, which premiered the first season in September 2021 and the second in July 2023, stars Jared Harris, Lee Pace, Lou Llobell, Leah Harvey, Laura Birn, Terrence Mann and Cassian Bilton.
