TV viewers are celebrating the return of Apple TV+’s “best series ever” after two years off the air.
The streaming service has racked up a large number of hits in recent years, ranging from Ted Lasso to Severance – but one with a fervent cult fanbase, that’s only getting stronger, is Foundation.
Based on Isaac Asimov’s book trilogy, the expansive sci-fi series spans a thousand years, with the story focusing on a band of exiles who discover that the only way to save the Galactic Empire from destruction is to defy it by using an algorithm that predicts events across vast timelines.
Since it premiered to a lukewarm response in 2021, the show has quietly become one of Apple TV+’s most successful shows globally thanks to positive word-of-mouth chatter after a full season had aired.
Season two, released in 2023, received more general acclaim and the show’s latest season is receiving similar praise by critics.
The Daily Beast said that the show “continues to put the rest of its small-screen genre brethren to shame with its momentous, magnificent third season”, while IGN wrote: “Foundation season three delivers on the promise of an epic-scale sci-fi story with the tone and pace of a blockbuster movie.”
Viewers are also lapping up the new season, which started on 11 July, with one fan declaring it “the best series on television” and another branding it “real TV”.
Another highlighted its status as an underrated season, asking on X/Twitter: “I don’t know why this series is overlooked – nobody talks about it.”
The return of Foundation was thrown into question when, in February 2024, cast and crew were reportedly sent home from production in Prague due to an issue surrounding budgets.
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It was the second time filming has been halted after the Hollywood strikes in 2023.
Deadline reported that, weeks before filming was scheduled to start, cast and crew, including actors Lee Pace and Jared Harris, “were told to return home while production issues are sorted out”.
It’s been suggested that production budgets needed to be lowered before the series resumed production.
Other stars returning for Foundation’s third season include Lou Llobel, Laura Birn and Terrence Mann – with Game of Thrones actor Pilou Asbæk replacing Mikael Persbrandt in the role of the villainous Mule.
The series was created by David S Goyer, co-writer of the Blade and Dark Knight trilogies, and Josh Friedman, who wrote Avatar: The Way of Water and new Marvel film The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is in cinemas on 25 July.
