Apple TV+ has low-key been building itself out as a go-to streaming platform for sci-fi. Series like Severance, Silo, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, and For All Mankind have made sci-fi into a mainstream watercooler attraction again, while diehards have been locking into series like Jason Momoa’s See, or the global sci-fi thriller Invasion. That all said, there has been one show on Apple TV+ that has led the way for bringing sci-fi epics back to the forefront, and now that series is poised to expand into a larger franchise universe.
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Foundation Season 3 has just ended its run on Apple TV+, and Season 4 has just been announced (at the time of writing this). However, in addition to Season 4, it’s now being reported that there’s a concept for a Foundation spinoff show, which showrunner David S. Goyer would be excited to make. Hint: It’s all about the Robot Wars.
“I would love to tell that story, but there’s really only two ways to tell it. One would be to tell it as a sort of B-story interwoven into a season, where we would do these flashbacks, which would be interesting, but would take up a lot of time and a lot of bandwidth,” Goyer explained to /Film. He then revealed that, “Another interesting way to do it would be to do it as like a six-episode miniseries that happens in between two of the larger seasons of ‘Foundation.’”
The Foundation Spinoff Could Be A Showcase Of The Robot Wars (And Fans Would Love It)
Foundation is an adaptation of the works of sci-fi icon Isaac Asimov, specifically his Foundation series of novels. However, Foundation is set within a shared universe with Asimov’s Robot series of novels and short stories (including I, Robot), as well as the Galactic Empire series, which both precede the stories of Foundation. In that span of lore set across roughly 25,000 years, there were the “Robot Wars,” which occurred 5 millennia before the events of Foundation. In terms of TV programming, that is, indeed, a true spinoff show concept: still set within the world of the franchise, but disconnected enough to offer a truly new and novel content experience.
The story of the Robot Wars is actually more timely and interesting than ever: as the robot species rises to prominence, there is a internal schism over whether machines should take human life to achieve the larger goal of preventing their assured annihilation (Zeroth Law), or stick to the law of robotics and don’t take any human life, but watch them ultimately go extinct. The “benevolent” camp of robots won and took the fight to humanity, but humanity ultimately triumphed, and robots were wiped out – save for Demerzel, who is indentured as a guardian and advisor to the Cleonic Dynasty for centuries, and would presumably be the bridge character between the shows.
The philosophical quandary that Asimov created with the robots and the fate of humanity speak to the very real flashpoint moment many experts see us straddling, right now. AI, its progression, and the very imminent and profound transformative effect it will have on humanity cannot be fully understood, and is the source of much anxiety. If Apple TV+ steps on the gas, a Foundation: Robot Wars miniseries could be exactly the kind of thing that taps into a mainstream pulse.
For now, Goyer sounds ambivalent at best about the notion, stating, “Who knows if that will ever happen? It was something that would have been exciting, and to be able to stretch our arms and really give that … I don’t think that story is required to enjoy Foundation as a show, but it would be fun to do it.”
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