BACK TO THE FUTURE
SETS THE DIAL TO YEAR ZERO IN SPECTACULAR SCI-FI THRILLER FOUNDATION.
THE elevator pitch is a legend in TV: tell us what a show is about in ten seconds before the doors slide open. Well, in the case of new sci-fi epic Foundation, which is about literally everything that’s ever happened ever, that’s a monstrous proposition.
Let’s see how Leah Harvey, who plays the Grace Jones-inspired kickass planet warden Salvor, gets on.
‘OK,’ says the London-born actress gamely, scarcely missing a beat, ‘I’m in this show and it’s about, er, humanity in the far future dealing with the end of humanity possibly happening. And how on earth are they gonna get through that?’ – pause and a chuckle – ‘I’d like to see how they deal with it!’
The ‘they’ here is the Foundation, a group of exiled refugees jettisoned from a despotic intergalactic empire who take on the challenge of taking humanity back to year zero and starting over on civilisation with a clean slate. Given fears about how our own civilisation is teetering on the brink of self-inflicted extinction it feels remarkably prescient, not least because the themes the show digs into are based on the book of the same name written by Isaac Asimov nearly 80 years ago.
Now, in a production that creates a spectacular universe that demands to be seen on as big a screen as possible, Foundation is brought to life in a drama that mixes philosophical ruminations on the nature of humanity with a dazzling creation of worlds within worlds that fire the imagination.
It also boasts a stellar cast, including Clarke Peters and Daniel MacPherson, with Jared Harris initially top of the tree as scientific genius Hari Seldon, whose grim prophecies form the basis of the exiles’ desire for a new world. The ruling empire, headed by Brother Day as the latest in a dynasty who have cloned themselves over many centuries, have no interest in following the science.
Brother Day is played with preternatural calm and no little steel by American actor Lee Pace, perhaps best known as Thranduil in the Hobbit saga. What’s his take on the essence of Foundation?
‘I’m a huge fan of science fiction and specifically a fan of this kind of speculative fiction that examines what a human being is outside of the connect of planet Earth in the 21st century,’ he says. ‘This is not a story about American politics or the coronavirus or the technology that we’re grappling with but it is about us, in the here and now.
‘I think what Asimov has done, which very few people have the kind of scope of intellect to take on, is looking at us as a species – the fate of us not as individuals or as cultures but as a species. It’s a simple premise but an extraordinarily complicated investigation.’
Given he’s a science fiction fan, how did he react to the idea of cloning a line of power which would in essence make an individual immortal? Would he jump at the chance himself?
‘I think presented with the opportunity to clone myself, it might be irresistible,’ he smiles. ‘But at the same time, I think that what makes a meaningful life and an important
measure of the grace we experience as human beings comes in the knowledge that this doesn’t last forever, that life is a precious thing. So it would depend on what mood I’m in when I’m offered the chance to clone myself [laughs] – how peaceful I feel at that time.’
Peace is in short supply in Foundation as factions fracture the veneer of civilisation, power corrupts and the very existence of humanity feels perilously fragile. Yet for all its ominous undertones and outbreaks of apparent cruelty, show creator David S Goyer has stated that he hopes the ultimate feel of Foundation will be an uplifting of the spirits. Did that chime with Harvey while she was filming? ‘Yeah, it totally did and I’ll tell you why: it’s because in making it I found friends and I found a community, one that was very much brought together by the show,’ she says. ‘In the show, Salvor finds a community, she finds love, she finds people who are willing to sacrifice big things in order to achieve a singular goal. That’s a big thing, working together to try and achieve something – that gives you hope, believing that something is achievable. The idea of the Foundation is that they’re trying to build the future out of the ashes of humanity. That’s hope personified.’
Episodes one and two of Foundation are on AppleTV+ on Friday. New episodes weekly