Warning: Spoilers ahead forFoundationseason 3, episode 2, “Shadows in the Math.“Isaac Asimov’s firstFoundationbook was published in 1951, so although many elements of his space opera have become outdated since, Apple TV+’s adaptation is making sure the story keeps with the times. TheFoundationbookscombine to form a multi-generational storyline, which is what the show is attempting to mimic with its changes.
Asimov set his story in the very distant future, with both the books and the adaptation beginning around 50,000 years beyond the real-world present day. TheFoundationtimelineis so vast that it deals in centuries rather than years or even decades. As such,Foundationseason 3’s new charactersare only distantly connected to their season 2 predecessors.
Foundation Season 3 Adds Social Media Influencers To Asimov’s Space Opera
The Mallows' platform of choice appears to be called “Scatter”
The introduction of Toran Mallow (Cody Fern) and Bayta Mallow (Synnøve Karlsen) pulls both characters from the pages of Asimov’sFoundationbooks. However, as well as Apple TV+ giving them both new surnames, Toran and Bayta have another key difference when compared to their literary counterparts. In short, they’re social media influencers.
Asimov passed away in 1992, and his finalFoundationbook was published posthumously in 1993. While well-known figures having influence over the general public will certainly have been something Asimov witnessed during his lifetime, the concept of social media was yet to come into existence. Use of the internet in general wasn’t even a widespread thing by the time the author died.
“Fantastic Scatters on the beach today. A coup is the place to be seen, apparently.”
- Toran to Bayta in Foundationseason 3, episode 2, “Shadows in the Math.”
Isaac Asimov was a very intelligent man, but even he couldn’t see the future. So, it would have been impossible for him to place any of the characters in a role that wouldn’t exist until years after he’d passed. That said,the addition to Apple TV+‘sFoundationadaptation does feel organic.
With the story being set so far in the future, theFoundationwriters are seemingly in agreement that social media influencers aren’t going anywhere soon - and, let’s face it, they’re probably right. So, it makes sense for the concept to be used in the live-action iteration of Asimov’s work.
Adding Influencers To Foundation Is One Of Apple TV+’s More Subtle Adaptation Choices
The live-action version of Asimov’s space opera is unrecognizable at times
Asimov’sFoundationbooks were at the cutting edge of science-fictionwhen they were released, but the genre ages about as quickly as any other. When ideas that were once deemed fantastical start to bleed into everyday life, they cease to become a sci-fi quirk. Similarly, certain predictions about the future can quickly be proven wrong, butFoundationis essentially immune to this.
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Foundation and Empire
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Foundation and Earth
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Forward the Foundation
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The saga’s far-future setting means it’s essentially safe from making errors about the future. Still,several elements of Asimov’s world feel outdated when reading them in 2025. As such, Apple TV+ has needed to overhaul huge facets of the literary space opera so it’s not laughable by modern standards. Most of these changes have been very noticeable to the books’ devoted fan base.
So, althoughinfluencers feel like a natural thing to add toFoundation, the show hasn’t always had the luxury of making changes that extend from the source material so well. Instead, it has had to make several, much more notable, alterations to theFoundationsource material, but they have at least allowed Apple TV+’s ambitious adaptation to flourish.
New episodes of Foundation season 3 release every Friday on Apple TV+ until the finale on September 12.
