Foundation and The Expanse star Jared Harris reacts to spate of TV cancellations: "Attracting a fanbase takes time"

"In the beginning, it used to drive me nuts that David Goyer would refer to [Foundation] as Game of Thrones in space, or something like that," the Hari Seldon actor recalled.

"[But] Game of Thrones didn't really kick off until the Red Wedding, and that was season 3, and then people caught up with it.

"So trying to attract a fanbase and an audience base towards a show takes time, and you have to allow the storytelling to catch up and the audience to catch up. If there is a breakthrough moment, it'll happen here, hopefully."

"Sometimes, like with The Expanse, the fans save it," Harris added to RadioTimes.com. "The [final three] seasons they got out of it were largely because of the fan reaction. It can happen, that they can save something or revive it a different way.

"The plan for [Foundation], as I understood it, was to have eight seasons. There's no way of knowing whether they'll achieve that – the only way of knowing will achieve that is people tune in. If people are watching, then they'll be encouraged to make more seasons."

Fans will be thrilled to see Foundation back in action for season 3, after season 2's finale episode left us on a major cliffhanger following the shock death of Salvor Hardin (Leah Harvey).

The episode ended with a 152-year time jump, setting up the battle between Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell) and The Mule (now played by Pilou Asbæk after a recast) that has been teased in visions throughout season 2's run.

But, as Harris teased, Gaal and Hari's worries don't end there.

"The challenge that Gaal and Hari have in that intervening 150 years is that they are late in developing the second Foundation, and they need to catch up," Harris pointed out.

"They need to utilise these people that Gaal has discovered who have similar abilities to her, to train them to be psychohistorians, so that they've got enough time to be able to get us to a point where we can get back on track."

Then there's the small case of the other version of Hari, who's been purposefully left in the dark.

"On the other side of the story, the other Hari, he's sort of pottering along thinking that everything's still developing in the way that he expected it to develop," Harris continued.

"However, he also is dealing with a really crucial piece of information that he discovered in season 2, which is that he's not in control of his own his own thoughts, even he's been digitally altered, his consciousness has been digitally edited, and that's created an existential crisis in the character."

As for how Gaal is dealing after Salvor's death?

Llobell added: "It's obviously heartwrenching and heartbreaking, and she's trying to find a reason as to why, even though there's no explanation, and it doesn't affect what the math is saying and where it's going and what we have to do to overcome the Mule and to save humanity.

"She's really battling between emotional distress and like being emotionally attached to something and someone, and losing those people, and how that affects her drive to continue and the logical aspect of trying to save humanity."

Foundation season 3 will premiere on 11th July 2025 on Apple TV+.

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