The First Foundation Season 3 Trailer Teases The Villain Sci-Fi Fans Have Been Waiting For - SlashFilm (2025)

The future is now, old man ... but things are still looking a little hairy in the universe of "Foundation." Season 2 of the Apple TV+ sci-fi series left fans on one heck of a cliffhanger, shaking up the hierarchy of the Empire for good in the present but inadvertently causing ripple effects over a century down the line with the looming threat of the sinister Mule. It was only a matter of time (literally!) before that futuristic chicken came home to roost, and his arrival in season 3 represents a villain that viewers have been waiting quite a while to see formally unleashed on our main characters.

Advertisement

Apple has released a new teaser for "Foundation" season 3, and it looks as thrilling, sweeping, and wildly expensive as ever. Set over 150 years after the events of the second season, war has once again descended upon the Cleonic Dynasty ... but not in the way we may have expected. The arrival of the mysterious Mule (now played by "Game of Thrones" veteranPilou Asbæk) throws pretty much the entire galaxy into disarray, even to the point of forcing some uneasy alliances between factions who once considered each other foes. If you remember, our protagonists Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell) and the reanimated consciousness ofHari Seldon (Jared Hess) — don't ask, it's a long and nerdy story — entered cryo-sleep in the season 2 finale in order to prepare for this exact turn of events. The universe that they awaken into again, however, is even more formidable and unstable than they could've imagined.

Advertisement

Check out the new footage above!

Apple TV+

There are several reasons to take the plunge and experience arguably the most expansive, complex, and detail-oriented sci-fi property out there in "Foundation" — intricate world-building, some of the absolute nerdiest lore you've ever heard of, and, most importantly, a thoroughly chiseled Lee Pace wearing a whole assortment of wigs as the thrice-cloned Emperor of the 12,000-year-old Cleonic Dynasty. (I told you it was complicated.)The "Foundation" season 3 teaser offers our first look at what showrunner and creator David S. Goyer has in store, and, well, let's just say it lives up to its billing on every front.

Advertisement

No future lasts forever, as the tagline for the season ominously declares, and we get a firsthand glimpse of how poorly things are faring over a century and a half after the events of the season 2 finale. The dreaded mentalic warlord Mule is active and up to no good, the Empire and its three cloned figureheads (played once again byCassian Bilton as Brother Dawn, Pace as Brother Day, andTerrence Mann as Brother Dusk) are on their last legs, and something drastic will need to be done to ensure the survival of humanity ... something along the lines of, say, The Foundation itself possibly teaming up with the Empire to defeat a villain bigger than any of them put together? Readers of the original "Foundation" books by author Isaac Asimov have a rough idea of where things are going next, but it's safe to say there will be a surprise or two waiting in the wings.

Advertisement

We now know that "Foundation" season 3 will premiere on AppleTV+July 11, 2025.