70 Years Later, Apple’s Most Epic Sci-Fi Show Teases The Spinoff We Really Want

In the 1950s, as Isaac Asimov’s Foundation short stories were fixed up into his Foundation novels, the author was dabbling with a different sci-fi continuity altogether, the future history of robots. The thing is, eventually, the Foundation series and the Robot books became unified in one massive, future history thanks to books like Foundation’s Edge and Foundation and Earth. And, in the Apple TV+ version of Foundation, this shared canon is honored to a certain degree and embodied in the character of Demerzel. However, with Season 3, Foundation is digging deeper into the Asimovian robot lore than ever before. So much so that in Episode 8, “Skin in the Game”, you can’t help but wonder if there’s not an incredible, and hypothetical prequel spinoff series to be had.

In fact, in some ways, a Robot-centric spin-off show might be slightly more satisfying than a far-future conclusion to Foundation.

Spoilers ahead for Foundation Season 3, Episode 8, “Skin in the Game.”

Among the various plot threads in Foundation Episode 8, Brother Day’s (Lee Pace) captivity at the hands of the robot cult known as “The Inheritance” is perhaps the most interesting. At least, that is, when it comes to deeper lore before the dawn of the Foundation. The leader of this cult, Sun Master (Blake Riston), taunts Day with an ancient robot skull on a staff, as his followers reenact the ancient history of the robots’ destruction. Like the Butlerian Jihad in the backstory of Dune, the idea here is that at one point, AI was commonplace, and then, because of a massive conflict, all robots were outlawed and slaughtered, save one. The people of the Inheritance think of this surviving robot as their savior, known as “Daneel.”

This refers to the character R. Daneel Olivaw, first introduced in the 1954 Asimov novel The Caves of Steel. This robot is at the start, the partner of a human cop named Elijah Baley, who is on a murder case with Daneel in The Caves of Steel. So, how can a former robot who helped out with police work also be the messiah of people in a robot cult? The answer is: Daneel and Demerzel are, in the Asimov books, the same character. In the books Prelude to Foundation (1988) and Foundation and Earth (1986), Asimov asserted that Daneel is just one guise that Demerzel operated under centuries before the Foundation. And now, the TV version has made that same detail crucial to its narrative. When Day hears that name, he tells Song (Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing) that “Daneel was the name Demerzel used when she wore other faces.”

So, does this mean that Foundation is also a loose adaptation of the Robot books, specifically, The Caves of Steel? Yes and no. In a Reddit AMA back in 2023, Foundation TV show producer David S. Goyer revealed that he personally made an appeal to Fox, which owns the rights to use the name “Daneel” and use the name in the show, in connection with Demerzel. Though Goyer confirmed in 2023, as in the books, Demerzel and Daneel are the same character on the show, this episode in Season 3 is the first time we’re seeing that confirmation on screen.

And, it’s in this confirmation that it really feels like this entire robot backstory deserves its own spinoff show. Obviously, Apple TV+ is adapting the Foundation books, but if the rights to tackle the Asimov robot books could also get to the creative team at the Foundation TV series, you can already imagine something very special.

In Foundation, we’re used to seeing Demerzel as the majordomo of the Cleons, a servant who has secretly been ruling from the shadows for centuries. But what if we suddenly saw another version of Demerzel as a cop? What if we saw Earth in a prequel to Foundation? What if this entire birth of the Inheritance could be turned into its own TV show?

Foundation is one of the greatest contemporary sci-fi shows currently in production. But its rich history is perhaps not always explored in depth, because the tone and aims of the series are somewhat clear. Foundation can’t suddenly turn into a procedural about robots solving crimes with humans, nor should it. But what about another show?

By the time Foundation Season 3 ends, we’ll likely have more clarity about Demerzel’s time as Daneel. But one or two flashbacks and references don’t have to be the end. If the Foundation TV franchise ever expands, a series about the robots in their heyday would be not only incredible but also extremely fun.

Foundation streams on Apple TV+.