Ahead of the Foundation Season 3 premiere, Fangirlish had the opportunity to interview the main cast as part of a pre-season press junket. In order to avoid spoilers, we’ll wait to post the full interviews until after some big episodes release. In the meantime, here are some teasers so you know what to expect.
MORE: What did we think of the new season? Check out our Foundation Season 3 review to find out!
Gaal Dornick
Gaal Dornick has always been the key to everything Foundation, and Season 3 is no different. 152 years after we last saw her, she’s still our hero, and the Second Foundation is still important to her journey. But the people she actually works with have, necessarily, changed with time. One of the new faces is Preem, played by Troy Kotsur. Just like the actor who plays him, the character is deaf and communicates via sign language.
During our interview with Lou Llobell, we asked her what it was like working on those scenes. Llobell told us “Troy has an amazing team, and Deanne taught me how to do sign,” and “because there’s obviously words that don’t exist in sign,” the team worked on “creating…signs for…the Foundation language, which is really interesting. And working in sign, and with Troy, was just amazing. I mean, he’s a brilliant actor, he’s super inspiring.”
One thing Llobell noticed was that, when acting using sign language, “everything is so much more emotive, and…you’re acting a lot more physically.” In the absence of things like “intonation, and sound, and voice…something that you don’t have when you don’t — when you can’t hear,” she continued, “you have to be more expressive in your facial expressions, and even your body language has to be more emotive. And it was… really special to be able to dive into that.”
MORE: We’ve come a long way since we first had the chance to interview Lou Llobell ahead of Season 1.
Hari Seldon
Technically, there are two Hari Seldons now. So, when we asked Jared Harris what he could tease about Hari’s arc, he told us a little bit about both versions of the character. “Well, [for] the Hari that’s on the Gaal side of the story,” Harris told us, “I guess you could say they’ve resolved their differences, and they’ve figured out that they have to work together to be able to succeed. And he’s properly come to see her as a peer.” That’s because Gaal is “the only person in the world who can understand what he understands. And he fully trusts her, which is a very significant thing because the only other person that he did fully trust was Raych.” (And we know how that turned out…)
But there’s also the non-corporeal Hari in the Vault. What about him? Harris told us that “on the other side of the story, you have a character who believed that they were, to some extent, almost omnipotent. And he’s discovered that he’s actually a creation of somebody else. That his consciousness has been edited by the other Hari and that he’s not fully in control…So, in sum, he is a puppet rather than the puppet master — and that’s kind of created an existential crisis in the character.”
MORE: Basically, our reaction to Hari getting a body was “but can Gaal slap him.” But then, we saw his flashback hair in Foundation Season 2 Episode 6 and figured he deserved a pass.
Brother Dawn and Brother Dusk
A new season means a new set of Cleons. While we can’t share much about any of them as a general rule — and can basically share nothing about Lee Pace’s Brother Day, other than to confirm that he still seems to hate clothes…possibly more than ever — here’s a tiny bit of news from Cassian Bilton and Terrence Mann.
When we asked the actors about their characters’ Foundation Season 3 storylines, which are a bit different from what we’ve seen from Dawn and Dusk in the past, Terrence Mann answered first. “Well, I know from my perspective and what my story is from beginning to end, from Episode 1 to Episode 10, the most important thing is you don’t see it, but it’s that I am trying to save this Empire so that Dawn can rule. And everything hinges upon that. Everything that I do hinges upon that. To try to save the Empire, try to save the legacy, try to save who we are — even if we’re tainted clones now — but hold on to the power. And so we’re connected almost more this season in terms of how high the stakes are…for what’s happening than we have been before.”
Cassian Bilton added, “I would say that there’s a divergence insofar as we’re distant from each other and we’re off on separate missions, in some sense. But I’d also say that there’s a convergence insofar as I think our arcs mimic each other. I think there’s a mirroring of both of my arc and Terry’s arc.” That’s because, for both Dawn and Dusk, Foundation Season 3 is “really about us trying to keep things together, now there’s this vacuum of power [left by Brother Day] in the middle throne. And so, even though we might end up on different planets and interact with different people, we’re both trying to achieve the same thing. And for both of us, it’s a pretty messy route with a lot of chaos along the way getting there.”
Emphasis on chaos, folks. Always with the chaos — but, possibly, more in Season 3 than ever.
MORE: See what Cassian Bilton had to say about Dawn ahead of Season 2.
Pilou Asbæk joins Foundation Season 3 as The Mule
Speaking of chaos: The Mule.
Yes, he’s the Big Bad of Foundation Season 3…but Pilou Asbæk, who takes over the role this season, reminded us that “no one is a villain in their own story. We’re always heroes…And that’s the same case with the Mule.” Yes, he’s “a threat towards the Empire and Foundation.” But he’s motivated by…hm. Let’s just say his motivation is something that’s not at all what you’d expect it to be, given everything he does in the first moments of the premiere alone.
More to come on that later this season.
MORE: In the Season 2 finale, Gaal tried to save Salvor from The Mule. All that accomplished was losing her sooner — and learning that we can change things.
Foundation Season 3 premieres Friday, July 11 on Apple TV+.
Stay tuned for more coverage, including our full interviews!
