2021 has unexpectedly become a time that harkens back to the very cornerstones of science fiction.
Some of the most influential stories of the genre that have been deemed unfilmable are
making their way to the big screen and into our living rooms.
Along with Deni Villneuve’s big budget adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel Dune comes an even
more ambitious attempt to adapt Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels.
This new series is set to premiere on the streaming service Apple TV+ September 24,
2021.
Recently showrunner David S Goyer was interviewed by the Hollywood Reporter to discuss his career
and he revealed his approach in bringing this grand scale sci-fi epic to life on screen.
Adapting Asimov’s worldbuilding book series into a visual format certainly has its unique
challenges.
These novels were originally published as a series of short stories that were later
combined into a book series.
The stories featured follow different characters and are separated by significant periods of
time.
The author himself also noted that his novels are filled with conversations, no action and
no physical suspense.
When talking about the challenges of adapting Foundation David S Goyer said quote, There
are three tricky aspects to Foundation that I think have tripped up all the other adaptations.
The first is that the story is supposed to span 1,000 years with all these massive time
jumps — that’s hard to tell.
It’s certainly hard to capsulize in a two- or three-hour film.
The second aspect is the books are kind of anthological.
You’ll have a couple of short stories in the first book with main character Salvor
Hardin, then you’ll jump forward a hundred years and there’ll be a different character.
The third thing is that they’re not particularly emotional; they’re books about ideas, about
concepts.
So a lot of the action happens off-screen.
In the books, the Empire, which is on 10,000 worlds, literally falls off-screen — like,
it happens in between chapters.
Obviously, that wasn’t going to work for a television show.
From the trailer footage that has been released so far of the Apple series it is clear the
production team is willing to take some creative liberties in injecting more action and suspense
which is understandable when telling this story in a whole new medium.
However Goyer also introduced a new concept all together into Asimov’s universe with
the inclusion of the Empire’s Genetic Dynasty.
In the latest trailer for the series it was revealed that the characters of Brother Dawn,
Dusk, Day, who are original characters not from the book series, are in fact clones of
the same Imperial ruler.
In the newest trailer Brother Day played by Lee Pace says that their genetic dynasty has
reigned for almost four centuries.”
While this idea certainly sets this series apart from other properties featuring a Galactic
Empire, the concept of cloning is not a part of Asimov’s Foundation.
When speaking about this addition to the story David S Goyer explained the reasoning behind
this change saying quote:
One of the aspects that I added was this idea of the genetic dynasty.
Because in the books, there are different emperors but they’re largely faceless.
You jumped forward a couple of hundred years and there’s a different emperor.
I wanted there to be consistent faces, even if they’re different characters.
So, I came up with this idea that the Empire is a series of clones of one man that they
keep recycling over and over again.
But, at any one time, there are three of them on the throne — Brother Dawn, Brother Day,
and Brother Dusk.
And so, even though we’ll jump forward sometimes between seasons and these will technically
be different characters, these three guys have the same face.
I felt that would give the audience a foothold.
And since the Empire doesn’t want to change, what’s the cleanest expression of being
resistant to change or wanting to impose your will across millennia?
It’s, “What if I can be the same person over and over again?”
While I understand the reasoning behind this creative decision in presenting the Empire
as an unchanging institution with the inclusion of one genetic ruler I find myself conflicted
with the addition of a concept not found in Asimov’s story and whether it was even necessary
from a storytelling perspective.
And I’m curious if the passage of time will now be difficult to convey if we see the same
actors throughout the story which takes place over 1,000 years.
Having said that, I do appreciate the difficulty of presenting this universe in a way that
can be enjoyed as a television series and will wait until I see the show before making
any judgments.
When speaking about this generational saga and the anthological stories Goyer reveals
a difficult challenge was making the show emotional.
Saying quote, Because the books aren’t particularly emotional and, in general with television,
people watch for emotion.
They want to fall in love with these characters.
So I had to figure out ways of using Asimov’s themes and ideas, but internalizing them into
the characters.
I’m sure that having a foothold that Goyer discussed earlier by having the same actors
featured throughout this multi-generational story would make it easier for audiences to
connect with these characters and form those emotional attachments.
There definitely seems to be a delicate balance between presenting an emotionally charged
sci-fi epic while still remaining faithful to Asimov’s ideas.
Another interesting tidbit Goyer revealed in this interview regarding certain characters
is that there will be more besides the Imperial Rulers that we’ll see throughout the series
saying quote, without giving too much away, I figured out
a way to have some of the characters extend their lifespans.
About six characters will continue from season to season, from century to century.
That way it becomes a half anthological, half continuing story.
So while it’s confirmed that the actors playing the Brothers Dusk, Dawn, and Day are
included in the group that will continue from season to season Goyer confirms there will
be a few more as well.
This will likely include Hari Seldon who is played by Jared Harris, the psychohistorian
who continues to appear in a series of prerecorded messages throughout the story.
His words also seem to confirm that Asimov’s Robot series which connects to the Foundation
Saga will also have a part in this show as well.
As the character of Demerzel was retroactively revealed by Asimov to be one of the many identities
used by the positronic robot R. Daneel Olivaw who is essentially immortal.
As such Goyer’s comments definitely seem to confirm actress Laura Birn’s continued
presence in the show as Demerzel.
There is a lot riding on the success of this series as David Goyer pitched it as an 8 season
show with 10 episodes a season.
He described the premise for the series as a 1,000-year chess game between Hari Seldon
and the Empire, and all the characters in between are the pawns, but some of the pawns
over the course of this saga end up becoming kings and queens.”
When asked about Apple’s reaction to this setting and Goyer’s intention for 8 seasons.
Goyer said quote: No one knows if it will work, but I can say there’s definitely never
been a show like it on TV before.
It takes some big-ass swings.
And Apple, by and large, went for it.
We do very unusual things in the show.
We use unusual structural things.
They had some trepidation about the science of it all.
[Apple TV+ chiefs] Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg had come from Sony, so they had
done The Crown and Breaking Bad, and I remember what I said to them was: “Don’t note me
on the science-fiction.
I can handle the science fiction.
Note me on the drama, note me on the characters, note me on their relationships.
I’ll take care of the other crap.”
While some of these creative liberties have me cautious about the success of this adaptation
I remain optimistic and excited to see Asimov’s ideas presented in this format which hopefully
will introduce and inspire a whole new generation to read these amazing stories.
To see adaptations of cerebral science fiction in the likes of Dune and Foundation is definitely
exciting as I think general audiences are ready to embrace deeper/deep thinking stories.
But I’m curious to know what you think about David S Goyer’s comments regarding his approach
to Isaac Asimov’s Foundation.
Are you intrigued or nervous about some of the creative liberties being taken with this
saga?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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Thank you all so much for your support and as always have a very nerdy day.