Long considered unfilmable, Isaac Asimov's Foundation novel series has been headed to the small screen for a couple of years, and was handed an order by Apple's Apple TV+ service last year. The first two cast members are now in place, as Jared Harris and Lee Pace have signed on.
Foundation is partly the story of a mathematician called Hari Seldon, who has invented a science called "psychohistory" which can predict the future for large-scale human concerns (so not whether you'll meet a mysterious stranger, but definitely whether civilisation will survive the next millennium). Sheldon sees that the Galactic Empire in which he lives is going to collapse, and that there will be a period of barbarism lasting 30,000 years, but he also predicts that, with the help of psychohistory and a planet called Foundation filled with experts in sciences and philosophy from all over the Empire, that barbaric age can be reduced to 1,000 years. The first book, Foundation, tells the story of that planet. Follow-ups reveal that another planet, Second Foundation, was set up to hold the psychohistorians themselves in isolation, while further adventures revolve around the development of the plan.
Harris will be Seldon, while Pace is playing Brother Day, the current emperor of the galaxy. David S. Goyer is currently the main showrunner for the series, after Josh Friedman left earlier this year. There's no word on when the Foundation series will premiere, but Apple TV+ launches next week with See, The Morning Show, Dickinson and For All Mankind.