Foundationseason 3 is here, propelling audiences 152 years further into the timeline. This season, one of the galaxy’s biggest threats yet arrives in the form of The Mule, a psychic warlord with the ability to bend people to his will. It’s up to Gaal Dornick, proponent of the strengthening Foundation, and whoever she can win to her side to confront The Mule and hope to bring his terror to an end.
As the Foundation rises in the third season (check outScreenRant’s premiere review), the Galactic Empire experiences something of a decline. This is in part thanks to the new “generation” of Cleons, especially the ruling Brother Day, who is not at all monarchically-minded. Advised by a new Brother Dusk and holding the throne for a new Brother Dawn, Day must face challenges to his leadership that he may not be equipped to handle. Also in the court, Demerzel returns as the last surviving android, whose growing self-awareness is set to influence her arc in the season.
In two separate interviews,ScreenRant’s Ash Crossan interviewed Lee Pace, Laura Birn, Terrence Mann, and Cassian Bilton about their work inFoundationseason 3. Mann, Bilton, and Pace discussed what it meant to portray new versions of the cloned Emperor Cleon I, and how that affects the larger Galactic Empire. Birn explained Demerzel’s tough situation this season and what that was like for her as an actor.
The State Of Foundation (& The Empire) In Season 3
“It’s … All Hell Breaking Loose”
Foundationseason 3 continues the story of the previous outings, but don’t expect the same old, same old.“This season is much bigger in terms of scope,”Cassian Bilton said, before also teasing a“darker season … defined by war and blood and mind control and manipulation and chaos.There’s a scene that opens the season which involves The Mule … from that moment on, it’s just blood and guts and basically all hell breaking loose for 10 hours.”
The Galactic Empire isn’t in the best state, either.“For the past two seasons, it’s basically been the Empire controlling and keeping at bay, or keeping submissive, the rest of the solar system,”Terrence Mann said,“but now, we’re losing our clone-ness. We’re devolving into humanity … and there’s a desperate need to cling [or] hang on to the dynasty and the Empire.”
The New Brother Day Is No Help Against The Mule
“[He] Doesn’t Care About Being Emperor”
In charge of that Empire is Lee Pace’s Brother Day who, unfortunately, has no desire to lead it.“My character is so different this season,”Pace said.“Every season I get to play a different Cleon, and this season he’s wildly different. He’s an emperor who doesn’t care about being emperor. He doesn’t want to sit on the throne or execute people or do any of the things emperors do. He just wants to hang out in the garden with his pets and make food and be fat and happy.”
As Brother Day indulges in his own desires, a massive threat encroaches on the galaxy in the form of The Mule.“The Mule … creates this black hole in the center of this diverse galaxy,”Pace said,“and then all the pieces start to fall.”But Brother Day, Pace said,“is not very aware of The Mule because he’s off doing his own thing. He’s just like, ‘I’m off. I’ll see you guys later.’”
The New Demerzel & Brother Day Dynamic, Explained
“It Went Under My Skin”
Someone Brother Day is very aware of is Demerzel, the last surviving android, played by Laura Birn. And inFoundationseason 3, the pair are far from friendly.“He calls the robot ‘it’,”Pace shared, adding,“he just despises the robot for controlling him.”
Laura Birn shared Demerzel’s perspective on the matter, which is that“For hundreds of years, she’s taking care of them, loved them, nurtured them, [and now he’s] calling me an ‘it’.”According to the actor, filming the dynamic between Demerzel and Day took a toll even behind the camera.“It went under my skin, eight months of listening to him calling me ‘it’ and mimicking me on set in front of everyone. There’s a scene where … I’ve taken my head off because I’m repairing myself, doing my private things, and he enters and starts to mimic me. So rude.”
But, the actor clarified,“One of the most interesting things about Foundation is always the relationship betweenDemerzeland Day. I love all the layers, and since she doesn’t forget anything … she remembers every one of the since they were born, when the only person they had was her.”She added that“I think there is a genuine love,”although,“How do we know? She’s programmed to love them.”
That relationship grows even more complicated, Birn said, because“she’s the only one of her species left, so they are the only family that she has.”And, because she doesn’t forget, Demerzel is“remembering every betrayal that she’s done, every time she needed to manipulate them, [and] every time they were disappointed in her … there only needs to be one look and it means so much because there’s so much history. It’s so compelling. I love that. I love the complexity of their relationship.”
How Day’s New Attitude Affects The Other Cleons
“There Is This Empty Middle Throne”
Lee Pace’s Brother Day may be uninterested in ruling inFoundationseason 3, but he’s not the only Cleon around. While Cassian Bilton praised Pace’s performance, saying“Lee’s performance this season is unrecognizable to his performance in season one,”and praised the fact that the actors portraying the Cleons have an opportunity to do something different every season, he said that Day’s new attitude means that“There is this empty middle throne, and both [Dawn and Dusk] are looking at it [going], ‘Who’s going to occupy that?’”
“The obvious person, at least in my mind as Dawn, is me.”
According to Terrence Mann, Dusk agrees.“Dusk knows that,”the actor said,“calls him ‘The best of us,’ and orchestrates everything the happens when the wheels come off the wagon to see that Dawn makes it to the middle throne.”But, of course, the actor promised that“things go a different way.”
