Major spoilers follow for Foundation season 1. You have been warned.
The first official image for Foundation season 2 has been revealed – and it teases a tense reunion between two of the show's most prominent characters.
Unveiled as part of an Apple TV Plus press release about the sci-fi show's next instalment, the official still reveals that Lee Pace's Brother Day is set to lock verbal horns with Jared Harris' Hari Seldon once again. Well, the AI construct of Seldon's consciousness anyway, given that the psychohistorian died in the series' second episode.
Take a look at the first image from Foundation season 2 below:
The first photograph from the season 2 set isn't the only announcement concerning Foundation's TV adaptation, though. Apple has also revealed 10 new cast members for the show's upcoming season, including two characters who are integral to the series' overall plot.
Dimitri Leonidas (Centurion, Riviera) has been cast as Hober Mallow, a master trader who is "summoned against his will to serve a higher, selfless cause". Meanwhile, Ben Daniels (The Exorcist, Jupiter's Legacy) will portray General Bel Riose, the Galactic Empire's greatest general who poses a major threat to The Foundation's survival.
Check out the full list of Foundation season 2's new cast members below:
- Dimitri Leonidas as Hober Mallow
- Ben Daniels as General Bel Riose
- Isabella Laughland (Harry Potter) as Brother Constant, a cheerfully confident claric tasked with taking the Church of the Galactic Spirit's teachings to the Outer Reach's planets.
- Kulvinder Ghir (Goodness Gracious Me) as Poly Verisof, the alcoholic High Claric of the Church of the Galactic Spirit.
- Ella-Rae Smith (Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw) as Queen Sareth. The Cloud Dominion's ruler is said to charm her way into the Imperial Palace on a quest for revenge.
- Sandra Yi Sencindiver (The Wheel of Time) as Enjoiner Rue, a politically savvy envoy to Queen Sareth and formally employed by Cleon the 16th.
- Holt McCallany (Mindhunter) as Warden Jaegger Fount, Terminus' new Warden who protects The Foundation from outside threats.
- Mikael Persbrandt (Sex Education) as The Warlord of Kalgan, a powerful warrior with psychic abilities who wants to rule the galaxy.
- Rachel House (Moana, Cowboy Bebop) as Tellem Bond, the mysterious leader of an group called the Mentallics.
- Nimrat Kaur (Homeland) as Yanna Seldon. There are no further details on this character, but her surname suggests she's a descendant of Hari's.
Curiously, Poly Verisof and The Warlord of Kalgan are the only other pre-existing characters – alongside Bel Riose and Hober Mallow – in Isaac Asimov's beloved novel series. The other six, then, are likely to be original characters created for the TV series.
Foundation season 2 is currently in production under the watchful eye of showrunner David S. Goyer. No official release date has been announced for the Apple TV Plus show's return yet.
Analysis: Fate of the duels
Understandably, there's not much we can glean from season 2's first-ever image. Judging by the fact that Brother Day is pointing an accusatory finger at his adversary's AI construst, however, it's clear that the conversation between them will be a strained and stormy affair.
Interestingly, the pair haven't traded intellectual insults since Foundation's premiere. Fans of the series will remember that, in the very first episode, Brother Day exiled Seldon and his band of followers to the planet Terminus. Day did so because Seldon's psychohistory experiments theorized that the Galactic Empire would fall and endure 30,000 years of hardship unless humanity rapidly changed course. As such, Seldon's thesis was deemed blasphemous and he, along with Lou Llobell's Gaal Dornick and countless others, were sent away to a planet on the galaxy's periphery.
This season 2 image, then, marks the first time that Day and Seldon will have interacted since the TV show's premiere. Expect sparks to fly and thinly-veiled barbs to be traded when the duo reunite.
