Apple Nabs TV Series Adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation

Apple has nabbed a TV series adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation, a popular science fiction novel trilogy, reports Deadline.

The project, from Skydance Television, has been put in development for straight-to-series consideration. Deadline revealed last June that Skydance had made a deal with the Asimov estate and that David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman were cracking the code on a sprawling series based on the books that informed Star Wars and many other sci-fi films and TV series. Goyer and Friedman will be executive producers and showrunners. Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Marcy Ross also will executive produce.

The book series was a originally a trilogy consisting of Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation. Asimov eventually added two sequels and two prequels.


"The premise of the series is that the mathematician Hari Seldon spent his life developing a branch of mathematics known as psychohistory, a concept of mathematical sociology. Using the laws of mass action, it can predict the future, but only on a large scale. Seldon foresees the imminent fall of the Galactic Empire, which encompasses the entire Milky Way, and a dark age lasting 30,000 years before a second great empire arises. Seldon's calculations also show there is a way to limit this interregnum to just one thousand years. To ensure the more favorable outcome and reduce human misery during the intervening period, Seldon creates the Foundation - a group of talented artisans and engineers positioned at the twinned extreme ends of the galaxy - to preserve and expand on humanity's collective knowledge, and thus become the foundation for the accelerated resurgence of this new galactic empire." [W]

Apple is expected to launch its original programming in early 2019. As of last month it had made deals for twelve projects, with nine of them being straight-to-series orders, skipping the pilot episode stage.

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