Lee Pace is a ruthless leader facing a galactic rebellion in trailer for Apple’s Foundation

It looks like Apple is putting all that iPhone money to use. The trailer for Foundation presents a vast and elaborate galactic universe, with a story that spans over 1000 years—and an absolutely ripped Lee Pace. The series is based on the Hugo Award-winning novels by Isaac Asimov. There have been previous attempts to adapt the anthological trilogy for the screen, with New Line, Sony, and HBO all going to bat, but it appears Apple finally figured out the formula.

The story goes: A revolutionary, Dr. Hari Seldon, predicts the impending fall of the Empire through some elevated science of math and numbers, but his findings move from being theoretical to becoming reality. He and a band of loyal followers venture to the far reaches of the galaxy to establish The Foundation in an attempt to rebuild and preserve the future of civilization. In their work they must decide what will persevere (both from their world and from humanity) after the collapse of the existing powerful empire, led by Brother Day (Pace). Enraged by Dr. Seldon’s claims, the ruling Cleons—a long line of emperor clones—fear their unrivaled reign may be weakening as they’re forced to reckon with the potential reality of losing their powerful legacy forever. This part includes a lot of Pace deciding people should die with the wave of a hand.

In pitching the series to Apple, David S. Goyer (Man Of Steel, Blade, The Dark Knight) condensed the elaborate story into one sentence: “It’s a 1,000-year chess game between Hari Seldon and the Empire, and all the characters in between are the pawns, but some of the pawns over the course of this saga end up becoming kings and queens.” His vision for the series spans a potential 80-hour story spread across 8 seasons.

Jared Harris stars as Dr. Seldon, alongside Lou Llobell and Leah Harvey, Laura Birn, Terrence Mann, Cassian Bilton, and Alfred Enoch. The first 10-episode season of Foundation is led by showrunner and executive producer Goyer with Robyn Asimov (Isaac Asimov’s daughter), Josh Friedman, Cameron Welsh, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Bill Bost serving as executive producers.

Foundation will debut on Friday, September 24 on Apple TV+, with the first two episodes available, followed by one new episode weekly, every Friday.