Don't Miss Apple TV+'s 86% Sci-Fi Hit Before Season 3 Debuts Next Month — Essential Viewing for Dune & Star Wars Enthusiasts

Apple TV+'s Foundation is one of the best sci-fi shows on TV, and it's a must-watch for any Dune or Star Wars fans . Well-made science fiction is fairly easy to find on the plethora of contemporary TV platforms, but with such a broad, encompassing genre, it means that not every sci-fi title will resonate with every viewer. I wouldn't necessarily recommend Murderbot or Black Mirror to each other's audience pools, as, although they might be solid shows, they have very little tonality in common. Foundation season 3 , however, is perfect for those who love an intergalactic space opera.

The Foundation books began as a series of interrelated short stories written by author Isaac Asimov, which were then combined and published into the first novel in 2051. Inspired heavily by the fall of the Roman Empire, Foundation took the popular science fiction concepts of interplanetary conflict and space travel, pushing them into a distant future where humanity is governed by a "Galactic Empire." This was the first use of a now-popularized term, and the Apple TV+ adaptation is

Foundation Is One Of The Best Sci-Fi Shows On Streaming

Foundation Is Perhaps The Most Daring Ongoing Science Fiction TV Series

Like many speculative fiction adaptations, be it The Rings of Power or The Witcher , Apple TV+'s Foundation has been a divisive title among fans of Isaac Asimov's prolific novels. That said, these are novels that were long thought to be impossible to adapt due to their enormous scope and lack of focus on characters . David S. Goyer, the screenwriter behind the Dark Knight trilogy, wrote the series as a loose interpretation of Asimov's work , taking his general concept and applying a more direct, narrative, and character-focused story.

Foundation has an 86% average score on Rotten Tomatoes , but a notable jump between its first season (72%) and its second (100%). The closing episodes of season 2 were hailed as some of the best in the series, and Lee Pace's performance as Brother Day, the larger-than-life Emperor of the Galaxy, is consistently poignant and entertaining throughout. Jared Harris is another standout, playing the ever-calculating "psychohistorian," Hari Seldon, whose studies set events in motion in both the TV series and novels.

Isaac Asimov's Foundation Books Created The "Galactic Empire" Concept

Foundation Heavily Influenced Dune & Star Wars' World-Building

The use of the phrase "Galactic Empire" is commonplace in science fiction media, with Star Wars being the most prominent usage of it in popular culture. Star Wars was a phenomenon the likes of which movies have never seen again, and it's evident from the original trilogy that George Lucas took inspiration from Foundation as well as Dune . In a 2004 interview with MoPOP, George Lucas stated, " Obviously, writers like Asimov have a powerful effect on those of us who think about robots and put them in our work ," referring to Asimov's Robot series, which is part of Foundation's shared universe.

It's evident from the original trilogy that George Lucas took inspiration from Foundation as well as Dune

While Frank Herbert, the author behind Dune , arguably has the more recognizable and iconic sci-fi novel under his belt, it's evident that his 1965 book drew significant influence from Foundation and Asimov's other works. Both Foundation and Dune explore distant versions of human civilization with a focus on politics and economics , examining how civilizations rise and fall in real-world history and applying it to a galactic empire setting.

How Foundation Differs From Other Popular Futuristic Space Sci-Fi

Foundation Has Notable Differences From Dune & Star Wars

As mentioned, Foundation is more similar to Dune in that it examines the course of civilization and the moments that cause ebbs and flows for great empires . The TV series has its moments of action and entertainment, but it's not necessarily a story of heroes and villains. Each season spans decades of time, with clever methods employed to maintain a consistent cast. While there are undoubtedly compelling ongoing characters, the emphasis of the series is more on the broader themes of human civilization.

In terms of world-building, Foundation also differs from Star Wars in its lack of humanoid aliens . There are alien creatures, but they're not sentient lifeforms. In terms of robots, the artificial intelligence in Foundation resembles Blade Runner or Alien more than the droids in Star Wars , and there are no AI in Dune .