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Apple TV’s Most Expensive Sci-Fi Series Is Officially a Streaming Phenomenon

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Not every television series is going to reward you instantly. Delayed gratification is something that’s well worth chasing, particularly when you start a new television series that requires your full attention from the very beginning. Some shows do it best when they spend years carefully building worlds, characters and mythology before everything clicks into place.

That’s been the story so far of Apple TV’s Foundation, because when the extremely ambitious adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s legendary novels first premiered, viewers were split right down the middle over the fact that the narrative sprawl and world-building seemed so damn complicated. However, with every passing season, those people that did stick with it are like people playing the slots at a casino and finally receiving a massive payout; the series has continued growing in confidence, earning widespread acclaim as one of modern television’s finest science-fiction epics. And yes, as audiences continue discovering it or rewatching it because they can’t get enough, Foundation is proving that Apple’s enormous investment has been more than worthwhile.

Foundation chronicles humanity’s struggle to preserve civilization as mathematician Hari Seldon’s revolutionary predictions suggest the Galactic Empire is on the brink of collapse. The series spans centuries, multiple worlds, and generations of characters. It’s a bit like Game of Thrones meets Dune meets, well, the United States Senate. It blends politics, philosophy, and just damn cool sh*t.

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The series stars Jared Harris (The Terror) as Hari Seldon, Lee Pace (The Running Man) as Brother Day, Lou Llobell (Voyagers) as Gaal Dornick, Leah Harvey (A Thousand Blows) as Salvor Hardin, Laura Birn (A Million Little Things) as Demerzel, Cassian Bilton (The Crown) as Brother Dawn, and Terrence Mann (Sense8) as Brother Dusk. The series is created by David S. Goyer.



















































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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz
Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive?
The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars

Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.

💊The Matrix

🔥Mad Max

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🌧️Blade Runner

🏜️Dune

🚀Star Wars

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01

You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do?
The first instinct is often the truest one.





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02

In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely?
What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.





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03

What kind of threat keeps you up at night?
Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.





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04

How do you deal with authority you don’t trust?
Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.





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05

Which environment could you actually endure long-term?
Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.





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06

Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart?
The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.





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07

Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all?
Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.





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08

What would actually make survival worth it?
Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.





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Your Fate Has Been Calculated
You’d Survive In…

Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.

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The Resistance, Zion

The Matrix
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You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.

  • You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
  • You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
  • You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
  • The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.


The Wasteland

Mad Max
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The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.

  • You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
  • You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
  • You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
  • In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.


Los Angeles, 2049

Blade Runner
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You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.

  • You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
  • In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
  • You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
  • In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.


Arrakis

Dune
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Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.

  • Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
  • You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
  • Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
  • In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.


A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Star Wars
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The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

  • You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
  • You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
  • You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
  • In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.

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Is ‘Foundation’ Any Good?

The first season definitely split opinion, but since then, Foundation has only seen its reputation grow and improve as, to be blunt, more people get it. The later seasons have earned consistently stronger reviews and critics have been wowed by the show’s visual ambition, increasingly confident storytelling and Lee Pace’s standout performance as the various Cleonic emperors.

Today, Foundation is regularly mentioned alongside Severance, Silo and For All Mankind as one of Apple TV‘s defining original series and one of streaming’s best science-fiction dramas. Foundation is streaming now on Apple TV.


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Release Date

September 23, 2021

Network
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Apple TV+

Showrunner

David S. Goyer

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Directors

Alex Graves, Roxann Dawson, Jennifer Phang, Mark Tonderai, Andrew Bernstein

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Writers

Jane Espenson, Leigh Dana Jackson, Liz Phang, Eric Carrasco, David Kob, Addie Manis, Marcus Gardley, Lauren Bello, Olivia Purnell

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