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Gizmodo
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
‘Foundation' Just Dropped a Huge, Terrifying Twist
Foundation is currently rolling out a third season stuffed full of dramatic resonance. We've always been fans of Demerzel, the ancient android played by the excellent Laura Birn, but season three has really elevated the character—even beyond that big season-two reveal that she's been moving the chess pieces on behalf of the galaxy-ruling Empire for generations. That was a monumental bit of information. But this week's episode, 'The Stress of Her Regard,' dropped a bombshell that's even more startling in the moment, and just gets more jaw-dropping as it sinks a callback to Foundation season one. But it also dovetails perfectly with Demerzel's season three arc, which has explored her increasing unease about the very near future. After Hari Seldon gave her the Prime Radiant in season two, Demerzel has been able to tap into his predictive 'psychohistory.' Over the past 150 years, she's consulted it so frequently she keeps it tucked inside her chest for easy accessibility. The Second Foundation and Empire both have use of a Prime Radiant, which means the two groups—who are ostensibly at odds—have the same means to glimpse the road ahead. As season three began, both realized there'd been a sudden, potentially cataclysmic shift in the timeline. Though they've long been preparing for an extended dark age that will kick off with the fall of Empire, Seldon's math now suggests the possible end of humankind itself. Soon! If the math holds, it'll happen in just a few months. Humans who are privy to this information deal with the impending doom in varying ways. But it's different for Demerzel. As we've seen in earlier episodes, she's facing a dilemma so grave she's sought out a confidante—a religious leader named Zephyr Vorellis—who agrees to have her memory wiped after each meeting, then restored when it's time to talk again. Demerzel's secrets are so intense she actually, for once, needs a sounding board to help her muddle through them. The big one is, of course, that she's a robot. She was a fierce general in the long-ago Robot Wars, then captured and held in stasis for centuries as the last of her kind. Then, she was reprogrammed by Cleon I to serve only Empire's interests and has been doing so alongside the genetic clones (all named Cleon) decanted in succession. That directive has manifested in different ways across Foundation's run so far; we've seen that Demerzel's programming removes her from having to obey the Three Laws of Robotics, as written by Foundation source-material author Isaac Asimov. In other words, she can and will kill humans. That includes any Cleons who step too far out of line. But the knowledge that Empire will fall and, even more recently, that humanity may end has sparked an existential crisis: who is Demerzel without Cleons to serve? And on an even larger scale, what is her objective if humanity ends and she's left to float through her eternal existence? As 'The Stress of Her Regard' begins, we get a whole new window into just how determined Demerzel has been to preserve Empire's rule—and just how important her hand has been in shaping not just the trajectory of the Cleons, but of the Foundation too. In Foundation season one, terrorists blow up the Star Bridge—a giant elevator designed to carry space travelers from their ships down to Trantor, Empire's home planet. It's a horrific act that kills millions. Hundreds of millions. In response, Empire showers devastating bombs upon the two worlds it deems responsible, causing nearly as much trauma in return. But as we learn in season three, while the responsible parties were indeed from the planets that were punished, they were acting on behalf of Demerzel. It's a secret she's been keeping for three centuries, and Vorellis, who's suitably shocked to hear the truth, wants to know why she did it. 'I have eyesight that far outstrips your own,' Demerzel reminds Vorellis. She's been playing a long game here. In season one, Empire was poised to execute Hari Seldon and banish his plan for the Foundation, which he had proposed as a way of shortening the length of the dark ages on the horizon. But Demerzel believed the Foundation would actually help Empire stay in power, at least in the short term. Since, as Demerzel explains to Vorellis, the Cleons respond to strong emotions rather than strong arguments—which Foundation has shown to be absolutely true—she had to do something to shift their thinking. Destroying the Star Bridge did the trick; they took Seldon's dire predictions more seriously, and agreed he could set up the Foundation on a far-flung planet. Cut to season three. Three hundred years later, Vorellis wonders if Demerzel feels regret over being a mass murderer. Demerzel—someone who operates strictly based on her programming, not her desires or emotions—did feel pain that day watching the destruction she'd caused. And because she's immortal, she'll be forced to remember that forever. But don't ask her if she has any regrets. 'The paradox is the thing that hurts,' Vorellis realizes. 'You said helping Foundation did not violate your programming in the near term, but in the long term Foundation is an enemy of Empire now, and you are partly responsible.' Vorellis, who represents Luminism, a faith Demerzel has been curious about in the past, suggests that maybe the robot is looking for a loophole to set herself free. She can't die and reincarnate as the religion teaches. But maybe… she has died, in her own way? Vorellis points out that there have been different versions of Demerzel throughout her existence. She's been reprogrammed more than once. Maybe there'd be a new Demerzel waiting to take over once Empire is gone? It's hard to tell what Demerzel makes of this idea, other than the fact that it distresses the hell out of her. She can't embrace the idea of existing without Empire, because she's wired completely around the idea of serving them. 'You are mistaking me for human,' she hisses, before tearing her skin and showing the freaky metal face beneath. 'I am not!' An understandably frightened Volleris dashes away, leaving the audience, and Demerzel herself, to contemplate the terror of losing her entire purpose, especially after all she's done to safeguard its existence. We're also left pondering the fact that she plotted the Star Bridge disaster—and wondering what else Demerzel might have done, or will do, to keep the status quo. New episodes of Foundation arrive Fridays on Apple TV+. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Gizmodo
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Even ‘Foundation' Star Jared Harris Can't Explain That Big Hari Seldon Mystery
Foundation returns to Apple TV+ this week, jumping ahead 152 years and plunging its characters into an end-of-the-world scenario. One of the key figures is Hari Seldon, played by Jared Harris. He created the Foundation in season one as a way to preserve civilization after his 'psychohistory' predicted a coming age of darkness. In the wild drama that's followed, we've seen Hari die and then resurrect as separate digital clones, one of which ended up getting a new human body in season two. It's complicated! Foundation is a show with many layers, and Hari—already a character who can be in two places at once—is maybe the trickiest one of all. Ahead of the season three premiere, io9 got a chance to talk to Harris about what it's like playing simultaneous yet very different versions of the same man and what challenges Hari faces as the stakes rise in season three. Cheryl Eddy, io9: As season three begins, we see that the Hari Seldon that's part of the Second Foundation is now very, very elderly. This is the Hari that received a second-chance body in season two, and he's made the choice to let Gaal stay in cryosleep while he stays awake for all those years instead. Do you think that was a tough decision for him to make? Jared Harris: Well, it wouldn't be the first time that he sacrificed himself. He does that in the first season, although this one seems pretty final. I think it comes about as a realization that because of the events of the first season, they have not been able to create the Second Foundation at the point they were supposed to, and they have to play catch-up, and they're going to do it Gaal's way. But also, Gaal's life is more valuable than his. It's really a kind of passing of the baton, if you like. io9: We never do learn how that body comes back to him. It's a real sci-fi mystery. And then when he expires, he goes to a mysterious place too. Did you have any theories or ideas about what was going on there? Harris: I had questions—they don't answer them for me either. I was like, 'Why has he got this? Am I a robot? Am I a human being? What am I?' 'No, you're not a robot. You're definitely a human being.' We also know that cloning technology exists within this world. Where [Hari goes], I've got no idea. I mean, I asked. You ask those questions when you're on set, and they just sort of nod and go, 'Yeah, it's a good question.' And then you realize you're not going to get an answer. So I can't help you. [Laughs] io9: That's one of the things I really like about the show, though, is that it doesn't spell everything out for you. Sometimes you maybe will have to rewind a little bit to be like, 'Wait, what just happened?' and then come up with your own answers. Harris: I think that's one of the secrets of a successful show, is if they're able to engage the audience in using their own imagination in filling out the unknown areas of the show, and it demands a certain amount of patience. It's what you don't get if you dump all the episodes all at once and encourage the audience to binge, because then any questions they have are going to be answered when they just start up the next episode. So I think it's a good thing to make them wait and then have to engage their own mind and their own imagination as to what may or may not happen. io9: To quote the show, 'Foundation has become comfortable' in season three. How would you characterize Hari's role—hologram Hari's role—the way the Foundation is now, after so much time has passed since it all began? Harris: In the intervening time between two and three, the Foundation's moved out of what they call the religious phase, and it's embraced the science that is available to them. And I think that that role that he was playing previously has become something of a straitjacket to him. I remember I said that last season Hari was up on Mount Olympus, and this season, I think he wants to come back down to earth. io9: Foundation is a show that features different versions of the same characters. There are the Cleon clones, of course, but Hari's situation is even more complicated. How did you sort of plot out the variations in your performances, from original Hari to the hologram Haris to the hologram Hari that becomes human again? Harris: Well, they've gone through very different experiences. One of the things that I attached to, and [discussed] in my conversations with the writers and the directors of the episodes, was the Hari that exists who's with Gaal—you don't go through what he experienced without it profoundly affecting you, and to some degree you're never going to be able to shake that off. So he's damaged to some level that he will never be able to overcome. And then the other version of Hari has had a little bit of a wake-up call from last season in that he realizes that he's sort of a figment of somebody else's imagination. His digital consciousness has been digitally altered by corporeal Hari, or the other version of himself, or previous version of himself, and that's shaken him. He's going through something of an existential crisis. So you take all those strands with you and see where you can use those ideas in the performance of a scene. io9: One of the big themes of Foundation that really comes out in season three is the burden of knowing what the future will bring—and the different ways people react to that. Do you think Hari is optimistic about humanity's chances, even after all he's seen and been through? Harris: I think he's definitely optimistic about it. You'd have to be. And I think that the version of Hari that's with Gaal, I think the reason why he feels he's willing to make the sacrifice that he makes is that he feels that she's going to be able to succeed, given her incredible intelligence, her facility to understand the complexity of psychohistory, and this other [extra-sensory] gift that she has. I think the other version of Hari is probably trying to figure out what his role is. And is he going to be happy with that role, given that he thought he was the one who was handing out the parts? He didn't realize that he had his part handed to him. io9: That's one of the things I love about science fiction. It could be a story about the world maybe ending, but there's also optimism and hope that can be found, which I think is the kind of story we need right now especially. Harris: I mean, stories without hope are tough to get through, you know. [Mad Men's] Matt Weiner described it as like sticking your face in a toilet. Yeah, you need hope. Foundation season three premieres July 11 on Apple TV+. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
