Laura Birn’s Demerzel Faces New Perils in Season 3

Apple TV+ released the first official trailer for the third season of its expensive and over-the-top high-budget live-action reimagining of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series.

Set in a distant future and on a galactic scale, Foundation, an ambitious sci-fi epic, follows Hari Seldon (Jared Harris), an exiled mathematician, whose new field of study, psychohistory, allows him to predict the future of large populations. He develops a plan to ensure the future of mankind that eventually leads to the creation of a new galactic empire, the Foundation, but his ideas run into fierce opposition from all sides. The new trailer for season 3, which premieres on July 11, 2025, with weekly new episodes airing through September 12, 2025, makes a big promise on all levels.

Focusing on crises that span the galaxy, the series so far has twisted Asimov’s work fairly freely, interweaving characters and making it into a decades-spanning show rather than a series of shorter episodes covering a generation or two at a time. Season 1 culminated in a time-jump of 138 years into the future, and season 2 focused on a major milestone in the story called the Second Crisis, a threat of war between the Foundation and the established Galactic Empire. The Foundation had also taken an unexpected turn by weaponizing its use of religious propaganda, and we learned about a hidden colony of “Mentalics,” people with dangerous psionic powers.

Season 3 makes an even bigger time-jump to 152 years after season 2 and begins in the middle of what is referred to as the Third Crisis in the Asimov books. In Apple TV+’s official summary of the new season, the Foundation has by now become a much more established and powerful presence than it was in the first years of its history, and the mighty Cleonic Dynasty is starting to show signs of weakness. The two powers, threatened by enemies and challenges from many sides, may be forced to form an uneasy alliance against a threat from outside: a mysterious new warlord with not only a massive military but also the ability to bend people to his will using a type of brainwashing.

“The Mule, it’s a name we made up a long time ago for when someone rose with military power and the ability to enslave minds,” Hari Seldon’s voice ominously narrates over a barren landscape in the trailer. “Centuries ago, when we predicted the fall of the galaxy, the Foundation was created to save humanity. But the coming darkness was always the turning point.” Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell) then warns, “We’re out of time.”

The show’s new villain, The Mule, is played by Pilou Asbæk and is not only powerful but also chillingly calm in the way he lays out his terrifying abilities. “I can turn enemies into allies. Hate into love,” the Mule tells the camera with a sadistic edge. “It only takes a little nudge.” The trailer provides a lot of quick glimpses of chaotic action: battles, explosions, collapsing cities, all seemingly within the power of this new menace to the galaxy.

Lee Pace (Terminus), Cassian Bilton (Brother Dawn), and Terrence Mann (Brother Dusk) reprise their roles as the three imperial clones, Brother Day, Brother Dawn, and Brother Dusk. Harris is back as the central character of Seldon, as is Lou Llobell as Gaal Dornick and Laura Birn as the powerful and enigmatic android, Eto Demerzel.

Season 3 also marks a major expansion of the cast. Some major new faces are Alexander Siddig as Dr. Ebling Mis, a fanatic of Hari Seldon and self-taught psychohistorian, Troy Kotsur as Preem Palver, who rules a planet of psychics, and Cherry Jones as Foundation ambassador Quent. Brandon P. Bell joins the cast as Han Pritcher, Synnøve Karlsen as Bayta Mallow, Cody Fern as Toran Mallow, Tómas Lemarquis as the flamboyant Magnifico Giganticus, Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing as Song, and Leo Bill as Mayor Indbur.

Foundation, Asimov’s Psychohistory on Edge

Foundation has always been a show centered on the possibilities of Asimov’s imaginary science of psychohistory. Psychohistory is an extrapolation of mathematics and sociology to predict the movements of very large populations over the long term. But it would seem that not even that scientific model can hold in the face of the Mule’s unpredictable powers to both change how events are likely to go and to control the emotional reactions of his opponents. This season could very well be about a fight, not for the best possible outcome, but for any outcome at all.

Visually, the show has more to say as well. The trailer offers a combination of sweeping views of space, densely imagined worlds, and action on a galactic scale. But it’s also emotionally heavy with the high stakes of an epic struggle that is about to happen. Can the Empire and the Foundation come together? Will psychohistory have a future, or has the Mule attacked the very concept? Is there any future for the galaxy in which it isn’t at the mercy of lunatics with mind-controlling superpowers?

Season 3 looks set to continue that pattern of raising the stakes, deepening the characters, and building on the series’ already ambitious world-building. With new episodes airing weekly starting on July 11, 2025, those who enjoy big-budget sci-fi television have a lot to look forward to.

If the first two seasons were the work of building up the pieces of Seldon’s gameboard, it looks like season 3 is the point where it all begins to be tested. Can Seldon’s game plan possibly account for a new player of such overwhelming power? The Mule looks like a threat not only to the peace of the galaxy but to the very idea of predictability in the future.