"In Seldon's Shadow" is the first episode of Foundation's second season on Apple TV+. It aired on July 14, 2023. The episode was written by David S. Goyer and Jane Espenson based on the novels by Isaac Asimov. Alex Graves directed the episode.
Synopsis[]
Hari finds himself trapped in a mysterious prison. An assassination attempt leaves Day shaken. Gaal and Salvor devise an escape plan.
Plot[]
In darkness, Hari Seldon rants to himself about many things, including why Raych put Gaal in cryopod, Gaal's actions on the Raven, and his own refusal to share the Plan with anyone who might have helped him. As he raves, Hari is suddenly pulled backwards into the darkness.
On Synnax, Gaal and Salvor talk in the ruins of Gaal's village. Gaal is surprised to learn that Salvor is her daughter, born from the embryo placed in the seed bank of the Deliverance many years ago. Gaal learns that Salvor was carried and raised by Mari Hardin. Salvor reveals that she knows things, and was drawn to Synnax to seek out Gaal and wonders if Gaal was drawn by a voice as well. Salvor is disappointed when Gaal says she was not, and Salvor asks to know about Gaal and her father, Raych.
In the Imperial Palace on Trantor, Cleon17 and Demerzel are in his bedchambers having sex. During the act, assassins slip into the chamber intent on killing Brother Day. Day fends off the first attack by placing Demerzel between them, resulting in half of Demerzel's head being sheared off. As the assassins move in, Day fights them hand to hand and takes them down one by one, but is injured when a blaster shot penetrates his aura. A molecular blade delivers a nanotoxin to Day, and the last assassin is dispatched by a still functional Demerzel. Day is taken to the medical chambers by Demerzel and saved from death.
Hari is trapped in a prism, with constant reflections of himself and seemingly no exit. He has a memory of when he was a young boy on Helicon with his mother and father. He tears a page from a book and realises that a three-dimensional object can cast a two-dimensional shadow. While his mother praises him for being smart, his father slaps him, angry because he ruined a book that he paid for. With the memory, Hari realises he is a three-dimensional object in four-dimensional space, and finds his way out of the prism and into a much large chamber. Eventually, he meets someone he recognises as his dead life-mate, Yanna. They talk, and Hari wishes she were real and that the galaxy is beginning to fall. When Yanna says she is real, and begins talking about how to prove it, Hari realises that it is not Yanna at all.
On Synnax, Gaal wakes from a sleep plagued by visions of a burning landscape and a dangerous looking man. Not being able to find Salvor, she panics and dives into the water, seeng a red flashing light from the direction of the Beggar's Lament. Salvor arrives after returning from fishing, and the two talk. Gaal reveals that she has visions of the future sometimes, while Salvor reveals that she sees Gaal's past. Salvor hopes this will open common ground between the two of them, but Gaal says they are not the same thing. Salvor asks why Gaal hasn't opened the Prime Radiant yet. Gaal tells her that she doesn't have the right tools, but Salvor replies that she knows when people are lying.
On Terminus, the Foundation has flourished since being exiled. In Terminus City, sirens go off, waking the populace. Warden Jaegger Fount responds, and one of his watchmen says they have never heard that siren before. Fount tells her no one has in one-hundred and thirty eight years since the Vault last opened. Crowds gather at the Vault as Director Sef Sermak arrives with Brigadier Manlio and Councilor Sutt. Fount tells them that the null field is subsiding. The Director cannot believe that Seldon is returning in his lifetime, but it can only mean one thing. The war with Empire is coming.
Hari asks the figure before him why she presents herself as Yanna. She wanted to provide him a trusted face. As they talk, Hari begins to remember something familiar about the way she speaks, her cadence and the rhythm of the words. Hari realises that she is actually Kalle, and he is trapped in the Prime Radiant which was created by himself and Yanna using Kalle's Ninth Proof of Folding.
Gaal reveals that she took Hari's digital consciousness with her when she left the Raven, and placed him within the Prime Radiant the previous night because she doesn't trust him. Learning that Hari had a second copy of his mind in the Vault on Terminus, Gaal says that Hari sacrifices everything for the Plan. Despite this, Salvor is still curious about the state the galaxy is in after over a century in cryosleep. Gaal shows her how to trigger the Radiant and they find the the Plan is off-course since the First Crisis. The Second Crisis is fast approaching, and if they fail to deal with it, the coming fall and darkness might be longer than Hari predicted in the first place.
Brother Day recovers in the medical center, refusing anaesthesia during his treatment because he does not want to be put to sleep. Visited by Brother Dawn (Cleon18), Day wonders if the doctors were involved in the plot to kill him, or even if Dawn was. With his treatment over, Day returns to his bedchambers where Shadowmaster Greeve and his shades are conducting an investigation into the assassins. Greeve reveals they the perpetrators were the Blind Angels, thought to be a myth. Day wants to know how they breached his chambers, using the servants entrance. When Greeve does not respond, Day has him executed and his shades taken for interrogation. Day admits to Dawn that he was frightened by how close he came to death, and that he is planning to wed and have children. Realising that both Dawn and Dusk have been choosing their words carefully around him, Day orders them both to undergo a memory audit to see if they were complicit in the assassination attempt. Day visits Demerzel after, making sure she is okay. Demerzel assures him that she is, and begins fixing the damage to herself.
A ship carrying Queen Sareth of Cloud Dominion and her entourage arrives on Trantor. She is Brother Day's prospective bride, and rumours circulate that she engineered an accident that killed her family and placed her on the throne. Day and Dusk talk about the assassination attempt on Day, and that the Queen's advance party would have created potential assassination opportunities. Dusk points out that it would have been better for the Queen to kill Day after they were wed, while Day counters that it would be better for Dawn and Dusk if the wedding never goes ahead. Day is seeking to correct the issues with the Genetic Dynasty as they drift further from their progenitor, but Dusk questions the wisdom in Day's actions.
On Synnax, Gaal and Salvor need to get off-world. Salvor is sure the Beggar's Lament can be refloated by rebooting the ship, but she can't hold her breath for the length of time needed to swim down and perform the necessary actions. Gaal says that she can give Salvor her air once they are down there. Gaal realises a hurricane is coming and they need to do it immediately, so the pair dive to the Beggar's Lament. Gaal gives Salvor the air she needs to carry out the reboot, and the Beggar's Lament surfaces. Gaal and Salvor have another talk, and Salvor tells Gaal that she hoped there would be a connection between them. Gaal points out that Salvor has had time to think about that and what it means, but for Gaal, nearly no time has passed since she left the Deliverance. However, Gaal does remind Salvor that they are the last Synnaxians.
In the Throne Room of the Imperial Palace, the Emperors receive the delegation of Queen Sareth I. The Cloud Dominion gifts Empire with rarest pigments of chroma, including the Imperial blues, much to Brother Dusk's delight. Day presents his gift to Sareth, a rendering of Trantor in brass that represents what is on offer if she agrees to marry him. Demerzel interrupts the proceedings, calling Empire away on an urgent matter. The body of Commander Kray Dorwin has been recovered after a century in space.
Demerzel briefs Empire on what happened to Dorwin, the movement of the Anacreons on Terminus, and their capture of the Invictus. Investigation also reveals that the mega-flare they detected was staged, and the Foundation is alive and thriving rather than dead. Intelligence reports also point to an alliance being built in the Outer Reach. Dusk counsels destroying them, but Demerzel says that it bears more investigation before action is taken. Day agrees, but Dusk warns him to get his house in order.
In the Radiant, Hari talks with Kalle and realises that she is no more Kalle than she was Yanna. Instead she is something new, and is an embodiment of the Prime Radiant itself. Hari is confused to how that can be since it should not have been possible given the parameters he used to design the Raidant, but Kalle points out he wasn't the only designer. She tells Hari he needs to escape, and gives him the hint he needs to reduce the dimensions of the Radiant and flatten it out, enabling him to leave. Kalle tells him to meet her on Oona's World if he can.
On the Beggar's Lament, Salvor finds that the ship has a fault in the avionics and it cannot take off. She wants Gaal to release Hari from the Radiant to fix the ship since he is a digital ghost and could probably do it in seconds. Gaal is afraid of releasing him since they did not part on good terms but she doesn't have to: Hari appears in the cockpit behind them, and tells Gaal it is time for a reckoning between them.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Jared Harris as Hari Seldon (Raven)
- Lee Pace as Brother Day (Cleon17)
- Lou Llobell as Gaal Dornick
- Leah Harvey as Salvor Hardin
- Laura Birn as Demerzel
- Cassian Bilton as Brother Dawn (Cleon18)
- Terrence Mann as Brother Dusk (Cleon16)
Guest Starring[]
- Nimrat Kaur as Yanna Seldon
- Holt McCallany as Warden Jaegger Fount
- Ella-Rae Smith as Queen Sareth I
- Sandra Yi Sencindiver as Enjoiner Rue Corintha
- Oliver Chris as Sef Sermak
- Rowena King as Kalle
Co-Starring[]
- Elsie Bennett as Kariel Seldon
- Sean Rigby as Nolan Seldon
- Isaac Highams as Young Hari – Age 7
- Eva Bradley-Williams as Varia
- Emily Stott as Oreen
- Wade Briggs as Brigadier Manlio
- Anthony Barclay as Councilor Sutt
- Haqi Ali as Handman Hahn
- Jim High as Shadowmaster Greeve
- James Beaumont as Lead Imperial Surgeon
- Abigail Rice as Imperial Doctor #1
- Roy McCrerey as Imperial Doctor #2
Appearances[]
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Behind the scenes[]
- One hundred and seventy-three years have passed since the first episode of Season One, "The Emperor's Peace", and one hundred and thirty-eight years since the last episode of Season One, "The Leap".
- The Genetic Dynasty now consists of Cleon17 as Brother Day, Cleon16 as Brother Dusk, and Cleon18 as Brother Dawn.
- Queen Sareth I's full title is "doyen of the Trade Leagues, prime witness of the Cloud Cathedral, and most excellent Queen Sareth the First, sole descendent of Dominion."
- Despite appearing in the episode as Kray Dorwin and Phara Keaen respectively, neither Christian Contreras or Kubbra Sait are credited. On his website, David S. Goyer stated that these shots were recorded during filming for Season One with the hope that the show would get get a Season Two renewal.[1]