Isaac Asimov's Sci-Fi Novel Series FOUNDATION is Being Adapted By Apple
Apple has landed the rights to Isaac Asimov's incredible sci-fi book trilogy Foundation and they will adapt it into a TV series with Skydance Television. The series is being created by David Goyer and Josh Friedman who have both worked on several DC films.
Asimov’s Foundation was originally published as a short story series for Astounding Magazine in 1942. The complex saga tells the story of humans that are scattered on planets throughout the galaxy, and all of them are living under the rule of the Galactic Empire. The main character "is a psycho-historian who has an ability to read the future and foresees the empire’s imminent collapse. He sets out to save the knowledge of mankind from being wiped out."
This universe is so huge, and there are so many different stories to play with, it's going to be interesting to see how it is actually handled because adapting it will be no easy task. However, it will be easier to play with as a series than it would be a film, which studios have been trying unsuccessfully to do for years.
Most recently HBO teamed up with Roland Emmerich and Westworld producer Jonathan Nolan to try and develop a series, but it never worked out. Maybe Goyer and Friedman will be the team to crack the code and actually successfully do it!
Apple is obviously looking to get even more ambitious with the series that they are developing and this seems like it would be their most ambitious project yet. Here's the description from the first book:
For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Sheldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future--to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save mankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire--both scientists and scholars--and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the Galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for a fututre generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation.
But soon the fledgling Foundation finds itself at the mercy of corrupt warlords rising in the wake of the receding Empire. Mankind's last best hope is faced with an agonizing choice: submit to the barbarians and be overrun--or fight them and be destroyed.
This is the kind of series that could seriously give Game of Thrones a run for their money if it's done right. I hope that the series turns out as awesome as I imagine it could be! Do you think that David Goyer and Josh Friedman will actually be able to pull it off?
The Foundation series joins a roster of scripted originals from Apple including M. Night Shyamalan's untitled psychological thriller, Damien Chazelle's untitled drama; a morning-show drama starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon; Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories anthology; Ron Moore's sci-fi space drama; Steven Knight's See; and a comedy starring Kristen Wiig. Apple is looking at spending $1 billion on scripted originals. While Amazon is spending $1 billion on single series projects!
Source: Deadline