Jared Harris Teases ‘Nothing Is the Way It Seems’ in ‘Foundation’

Jared Harris - Foundation - Apple TV+
Fall Preview
Apple TV+

Pro tip: Get a bigger TV to watch this take on Isaac Asimov’s lauded 1951 novel, Foundation.

You’ll want to catch the visually stunning array of planets and peoples in this far-future galactic realm, and every blink from the actors, starting with Jared Harris as savvy genius Hari Seldon and Lou Llobel as innocent young Gaal Dornick, two mismatched souls out to save humanity.

Foundation Season 1

(Credit: Apple TV+)

Seldon is a “psychohistorian” who runs the Foundation, an institute where he created a mathematical model pinpointing civilization’s end. It’s a prediction the rulers — who for eons have been clones of the same leader and are collectively known as “Empire” — aim to discredit. Even if it means killing his followers, like Dornick.

But Seldon’s hardly a helpless intellectual. “Nothing is the way it seems initially,” Harris teases, pointing to his character’s revelation to Dornick when they first meet in the Imperial Library: “If you can foretell the future, then you can create the future.”

Their journey alternates with other stories, including one revolving around a mysterious, force-field-protected vault on a distant planet that predates the human settlers, including Leah Harvey’s Salvor Hardin (above). “This epic takes place over 1,000 years,” Harris continues. “Seldon is the heart and soul.” With that kind of power, you can bet the Empire strikes back.

Foundation, Series Premiere, Thursday, September 23, 9 pm ET, Apple TV+

This is an excerpt from TV Guide Magazine’s 2021 Returning Favorites issue. For more inside scoop on the new fall TV season, pick up the issue, on newsstands now.