Foundation gets a second season on Apple TV Plus

Foundation has been renewed for a second season on Apple TV Plus, Apple announced today, ahead of the release of the fourth episode of the first season on Friday.

The renewal is a vote of confidence from Apple, as one of Apple TV Plus’s flagship shows, intended to attract viewers as a premium genre show in the same way as Game Of Thrones made for HBO, The Mandalorian made for Disney Plus, or The witcher for Netflix. That said, outside of today’s press release (where Apple is calling the show a “global hit” that “has quickly proven to resonate with the public”), the company hasn’t even provided vague estimates of the show’s popularity so far.

“With season two, our audiences will be able to visit more of Asimov’s indelible characters and worlds, including Hober Mallow, General Bel Riose and all of the Outer Suns,” showrunner and executive producer David S. Goyer said in the Apple press release, stating that the second season will at least partially cover the second half of Asimov Foundation, as well as its sequel, Foundation and Empire.

Goyer also has big ambitions for the series; in an interview with Hollywood journalist, he mentioned that his original presentation to Apple lasted eight seasons. And while Apple hasn’t commented publicly on the cost of the lavish series, Goyer did mention that “if you were to take two episodes and put them together, the budget is bigger than some of the movies I’ve made.”

Apple’s announcement doesn’t say which (if any) season one cast members will return for Foundationis the second season. But given the anthological nature of Asimov’s novels – which are a collection of short stories spanning centuries – it’s likely that a second season would bring new faces to the series.

Whether Apple is willing to pay for the full 80 episodes Goyer plans to tell his story properly is still an unanswered question, but with a second season on the way, it looks like Foundation fans will at least be able to see the entirety of Asimov’s first book adapted live-action.

The rest of Foundationthe first season of airs weekly on Fridays on Apple TV Plus; no release date for FoundationThe second season of has been announced.