The New Foundation Trailer Will Blow Your Mind

Apple TV+ released the official trailer for Foundation season 3, the high-budget, high-concept adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s science fiction series of the same name. The trailer introduces viewers to one of Asimov’s most nefarious villains, the enigmatic and all-powerful Mule, and sets up an impending crisis of galactic proportions. Season 3 is scheduled for a July 11, 2025, premiere, with episodes dropping weekly through September 12.

Foundation takes significant creative liberties with the source material, yet retains its use of centuries-long jumps as the narrative anchor across seasons. Season 1 ended with a 138-year time skip and the setup for the series’ Second Crisis, and season 2 saw Foundation and the Galactic Empire on the cusp of outright war. As the Foundation took a decidedly more fanatical turn and began weaponizing religious fervor, so-called “Mentalics” or psionically gifted individuals began to take shape on a secret, isolated colony.

Season 3 jumps 152 years ahead to begin its action and plots Foundation in the titular Third Crisis, per Apple TV+’s synopsis. At this point in the series, Foundation is both more established and more expansive than it was at its founding, while the Galactic Empire, ruled by the Cleonic Dynasty, has seen its star wane. The new trailer shows these two major forces being pushed toward an uneasy alliance, though, with their rule threatened both internally and from outside: the Mule has emerged, a warlord with the power to both crush empires militarily and to bend the human mind to his will.

“There was a long time when all we could do was wait. But now we’re out of time,” says Gaal Dornick, Foundation mathematician and developing star of the show, played by Lou Llobell. Hari Seldon, the voice of reason played by Jared Harris, gives viewers a similarly chilling indication of what Foundation’s titular “psychohistory” may be up against, as he muses 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.”

The Mule himself (played by Pilou Asbæk) reveals more of his alarming abilities in the trailer, which features mind control as a fundamental tenet of his rise to power. “I can turn enemies into allies. Hate into love,” he calmly assures an opponent. “It only takes a little nudge.” The trailer packs more action sequences than its predecessors—explosions, starfighter battles, mass uprisings, and even city-wide collapses foreshadow a broad reach for the Mule’s particular powers.

Lee Pace, Cassian Bilton, and Terrence Mann all reprise their roles as the three imperial clones Brother Day, Brother Dawn, and Brother Dusk, respectively, and Jared Harris and Lou Llobell return in their central roles as Hari Seldon and Gaal Dornick, respectively. Laura Birn also reprises her role as Eto Demerzel, the cloaked and powerful imperial executive who’s revealed to be something of a Sith lord in her own right in season 2.

The season’s lineup also features a wealth of new additions, starting with Alexander Siddig as Dr. Ebling Mis, a zealous devotee of Hari Seldon and self-professed psychohistorian; Troy Kotsur as Preem Palver, the leader of a planet of psychics; and Cherry Jones as Foundation ambassador Quent. Brandon P. Bell is also onboard as Han Pritcher, while Synnøve Karlsen and Cody Fern join the cast as Bayta Mallow and Toran Mallow, respectively, and Tómas Lemarquis will play the flamboyant Magnifico Giganticus, with Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing playing Song and Leo Bill as Mayor Indbur.

Time Heals All Wounds… or?

Foundation’s long game has always been the theoretical basis of “psychohistory,” a pseudo-science that combines mathematics and sociology to extrapolate and predict the ebbs and flows of human development over centuries and generations. But the Mule’s rise poses a threat to that balance even as it is just beginning. With the ability to transcend the logic of psychohistory by both mentally and emotionally manipulating the public at large, the Mule may just have the power to rewrite the future as Foundation is trying to predict it.

Visually, the show still impresses, balancing on-screen action with some of the more subtle scene work of its lead actors, all while fully rendering sweeping space opera set pieces, dynamic costume design, and in-depth world-building. But what the trailer brings to the forefront is the human (or, sentient, at least) side of this impending confrontation. What is the price of peace for so many billions? Can the Empire and Foundation work together? And will psychohistory even survive when the Mule himself is actively unraveling its logic?

Season 3 of Foundation promises to engage these questions at even greater heights, expanding the show’s character roster and stakes even further. The series has set a July 11 premiere for season 3 and will release new episodes every week through September 12.