Sprawling, ambitious science fiction sagas are much better suited to TV, and in these days of Peak TV and the hefty budgets that big companies like Apple can stump up, the time is ripe for more large-scale storytelling. Which is a roundabout way of saying that the adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation is headed our way soon and the new teaser has arrived.
Foundation is partly the story of a mathematician called Hari Seldon (Jared Harris), 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.
David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman led the charge behind the scenes here, with Lee Pace, Lou Llobell and Leah Harvey also in the cast. The first three episodes land on Apple TV+ on 24 September, with the following seven dropping once a week after that.