Summary

• The Apple TV+ adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series has made significant changes to several major characters, including Gaal Dornick, Salvor Hardin, and Eto Demerzel, by incorporating gender-swapping and reimagining their roles.
• The concept of the Emperor in Foundation has been transformed in the TV series, introducing the idea of a genetic dynasty and individuality within the monarch. This adds a new dimension to the story not found in Asimov's books.
• The TV series has introduced original elements, such as a terrorist attack on Trantor involving an orbital sky bridge and the brutal murder of Hari Seldon. These changes add drama and drive the narrative in unique ways not seen in the original books.

Isaac Asimov's Foundation has been brought to life on the small screen — but there are many differences when comparing Apple TV+ Foundation show vs the book. Celebrated sci-fi author Asimov launched his iconic Foundation series of books and short stories in 1942. It had a profound influence on popular culture, blazing the trail for almost all science fiction that followed. And yet, for all that's the case, filmmakers and showrunners struggled to bring Foundation to life. The vast period of time encomed by Asimov's tale, with its initially anthological structure and cerebral concepts, proved too great an obstacle until Apple TV+'s Foundation series, though it's a lavish reinterpretation.

Foundation on Apple TV+ is helmed by showrunner David Goyer, who reveres the books but understands that what works well in one format will not in another. "I think the secret sauce for adapting Foundation was really rooting it in emotion," he explained. "Really rooting it in character." He understands Foundation needs to appeal to more than just the book's fans, and the key is to focus on the characters. Given Asimov's own stories are concept-driven, that means recognizing dramatic potential and exploiting it. With Goyer adding an element of diversity not present in Asimov's works, Foundation was changed in several key ways for the show.

Both seasons of Foundation are exclusively available to stream on AppleTV+

Several Major Characters Have Been Radically Redesigned

Gaal Dornick, Salvor Hardin, And Eto Demerzel Were Male In Isaac Asimov's Foundation Books

Several major Foundation characters were changed quite considerably from Isaac Asimov's books — including the stars of the series. Gaal Dornick, played by Lou Llobell, is a perfect example; in the books Gaal is male, and there's certainly no romance plot involving the mathematical prodigy. The differences go even deeper than that obvious surface-level change. In the books, Gaal Dornick is a celebrated mathematician from a world that seems rather more well-developed than Synnax in Foundation, older and more confident, having already earned a doctorate. Asimov didn't even spend much time on Synnax.

Gaal Dornick isn't the only Foundation character who's different in the Isaac Asimov novels. Salvor Hardin has been gender-swapped as well, played by industry newcomer Leah Harvey. Hardin has also been reinvented as the Warden of Terminus rather than its mayor. This fundamentally alters the dynamics of Trantor, because Salvor's role is a military one rather than an istrative one. In the books, Hardin was well-known for his many sayings, with the most famous being that "violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." But Foundation's Salvor Hardin feels like a much more action-oriented character, suggesting her role going forward will be very different.

One other character has been gender-swapped for the Apple TV+ adaptation of Foundation — the Emperor's adviser Eto Demerzel, played by Laura Birn. Eto is actually a tremendously important figure in Asimov's books, as the legendary sci-fi author ret-conned this as an alias taken by the hero of his I, Robot books, R. Daneel Olivaw, who bound the two science-fiction franchises together. Asimov ultimately imagined Olivaw as the true architect of the Foundation, and even the one who had inspired Hari Seldon to discover psychohistory.

Raych Foss Is An Original Character (With An Old Name)

AppleTV+ Created Alfred Enouch's Character From Several Minor Isaac Asimov Ones

Alfred Enoch plays Raych Foss, an important secondary character in Foundation — Hari Seldon's closest friend, and ultimately his killer. In a perverse twist of fate, while Raych is seemingly an original character created for Foundation, he appears to be named in honor of Hari's own adoptive son from Asimov's book series. In the prequel novel, "Forward The Foundation", Hari adopts Raych (who has no surname) at the age of 12, and he grows to adult age before being killed.

Interestingly, at one point, Raych attempts to go undercover against Hari's enemies, but is captured and reprogrammed to kill his own father, an assassination that is stopped in time. The Apple TV+ Foundation version of Raych is very different, though he does absorb some scenes involving other figures, such as Seldon's lawyer. David Goyer has explained the key to Foundation lies in finding the emotions underpinning the narrative, and Raych serves an essential part in achieving that in the first two episodes, with his relationships with Hari Seldon and Gaal Dornick driving the story.

Foundation's Emperor Is Totally Different From The Books

The Galactic Monarchy Didn't Matter Much To Isaac Asimov

Asimov never concerned himself too much with the Emperor, with the books and short stories suggesting the latter Emperors were incompetent. Foundation has reinterpreted the Emperor by coming up with the idea of a sort of "genetic dynasty." The Emperor Cleon I established a lineage of clones, with each raised to believe they represented the continuation of his will; the Emperor is thus the personification of the Empire's permanency, constant and unchanging, ever-present and never-failing. In reality, of course, each Emperor grows up in the shadow of his predecessor, meaning they are more individual than they truly believe.

Lee Pace, who plays the Emperor, describes it as like being of two minds; "On one side of their mind, they believe they're the same person. They actually believe this, and they believe that person is the Emperor of the galaxy... And on the other side of that mind, are a series of individuals who, whether they like it or not, are individuals." It's a fascinating concept, one entirely alien to Isaac Asimov's novels, but it's not hard to see why Goyer invented it; the books and short stories span a millennium, and viewers need some constant faces to encourage familiarity.

The Terrorist Attacks On Trantor

There Was No Sky Bridge In Isaac Azimov's Books

The ecumenopolis of Trantor — which likely inspired similar city planets like Coruscant in Star Wars — is lifted fairly accurately from Asimov's books. However, the orbital sky bridge is a new idea — one that soon proves to be of real importance to the story of Foundation on Apple TV+, when terrorist attacks bring the bridge down around the planet like a garrote, shaking even the Emperor's self-confidence. This terrorist attack is entirely original, but it serves a key role in the narrative because it inspires the Emperor to fear that Hari Seldon may be right and sign off on the Foundation.

It also potentially accelerates the downfall of the Empire, because in the books the Anacreons — one of the races the Empire blames for the terrorist attacks — rebel in an uprising that causes problems for the Foundation. The disturbing question is whether the Anacreons were actually responsible for the attacks in the first place; they seem rather convenient, and it's possible Hari Seldon orchestrated them himself.

Hari Seldon's Death Never Happened In The Books

Isaac Asimov Had A Much Happier Ending For Hari

In Asimov's books and short stories, Hari Seldon lived to a ripe old age and left holographic messages behind in his latter years. Foundation's version of Hari on Apple TV+ is brutally murdered, however — killed by his friend Raych, for reasons that are initially unrevealed. It's reasonable to assume this was something else Seldon arranged, perhaps because he believed the Foundation needed a martyr in order to be truly committed to his goals.

Everything that spins out of Seldon's death — notably including Gaal Dornick being placed in an escape pod in cryogenic suspension — is created just for the show, written into the story to add drama. There may well be another purpose, too; David Goyer has hinted he has come up with several ways to keep key characters around even as the story of Foundation moves ahead by decades, and it's possible Gaal will be kept in cryogenic suspension for quite some time, with the pod serving as a convenient plot device.

The Vault Has Changed Considerably

The Null Field Was Invented For Foundation On Apple TV+

The Vault is an important part of Asimov lore, but it has been fundamentally transformed for the TV series. In Asimov's novels, the Vault was programmed to open at defining moments in galactic history, so-called "Seldon Crises," and impart essential knowledge in order to orchestrate events across the millennium.

It is reasonable to assume the Vault will serve the same purpose in the TV series as well, but here it was sent to Terminus ahead of the colonists, and it possesses a mysterious null field that keeps all living organisms away from it until it opens. Salvor Hardin is mysteriously resistant to the null field, making her even more important to the story of Foundation, but that, too, is new.

The Second Crisis Has Changed

The Foundation TV Show Merges Several Events To Prolong Its Foundation Vs. Empire Conflict

The second season of Foundation took place 138 years after the first season's finale, and it brought up the idea of the Second Crisis. When the second season started, the Foundation had flourished since it averted the first Seldon Crisis, but that provided a strong threat to the Empire itself. When the second season started, it was revealed that the Empire learned the Foundation still existed and this meant that something needed to be done. This would be the Second Crisis.

However, in the original Isaac Asimov Foundation books, that was handled by Salvor Hardin, and it was a battle with a neighboring planet that was resolved thanks to the Foundation's religion. The Apple TV+ version is a mixture of several ideas from the books, combining that event with a new Seldon Crisis with Hober Mallow pushing the Foundation past its religion and into more of a commerce state.

Hari Seldon's Wife Wasn't Human

Seldon Had A Robot Assistant In The Isaac Azimov Novels

In the Foundation books, Hari Seldon's wife Yanna Seldon was an important part of his past life when he was working on his scientific projects. The same thing was shown in the second season of the Apple TV+ show, as she was shown in the past, once again helping make contributions to his work on psychohistory. However, there was one major difference in Yanna in the book and the Apple TV+ series. In the Isaac Azimov books, was a robot named Dors Venabili – a character who filled the same purpose as Yanna, Hari's now very human wife.

Queen Sareth Didn't Exist

The Pivotal Ella Rae-Smith Foundation Character Isn't In The Books At All

Queen Sareth (Ella Rae-Smith) is an important character in the Foundation TV series, but does not exist in the Isaac Azimov books at all. This is a character likely added by Apple TV+ to give more story for Cleon XVII since his story on the Foundation show is also more important than it was in the books. One of the best moments was as they headed to their arranged wedding, she made it clear she would only marry him to have an heir to help her kingdom, Cloud Dominion. Her kingdom is also original to the series.

Bel Riose Was A Military Leader In The Novels

Riose Gets A New Life A Chance At Revenge In The AppleTV+ Show

Bel Riose had the same fate in both the Foundation novels and the Apple TV+ series. In the novels, he was a high-ranking military officer who realized what the Foundation on Terminus was doing and set out to conquer the planet and stop them, so he could help restore the dying Empire. However, as Hari Seldon had predicted, a strong military offer was seen as a threat and Cleon II ordered him brought in and executed. On the TV show, there was still a conflict as Cleon XVII had him imprisoned for breaking orders to save troops and still achieving a victory, and was even told his husband was executed.

This set up a new dynamic, where Bel not only wasn't an honored military leader on the Apple TV+ show but had a grudge to settle with Cleon XVII. He was released from his imprisonment to help serve the Empire again, with a promise of freedom if he did. He also learns his husband is still alive and reunites with him. However, just like in the books, Bel would die — but the big difference is that in the Foundation TV show, he gets to fight Cleon XVII before he finally dies, but with successful revenge on his mind.