The second season of Apple TV+’s cosmic epic, Foundation, introduced new characters, new stakes, and new revelations, and as it concluded with quite an eventful finale, Hari Seldon’s masterplan was unfurled in a cataclysmic reckoning. Given the basis of psychohistory and Hari’s initial perception of human existence, which dictates that the impact of individuals doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things, it is little wonder that not all the characters viewers grew fond of will make it to the next season. In fact, these last couple of episodes of the second season take out more characters from the planetary saga than the first season managed to do. We would like to take a look back at the ending of the second season to assess the tally of the characters who might return for a third season and those who won’t.
Spoilers Ahead
Did The Foundation Survive In The End?
By making the Foundation’s base strong enough in Terminus through trading, making alliances with neglected planets of outer reach, and advancing technological prowess, Hari Seldon’s AI consciousness at the Vault has managed to create a formidable opponent that can take on the Galactic Empire. Using his pragmatic mind and with the assistance of Brother Constant, Poly, and Hober Mallow, Hari manages to lure Cleon XVII, the contemporary Brother Day, with the entirety of his fleet to Terminus.
Finally, Day destroys the Terminus by crashing the giant warship Invictus into it, but by that time, the AI Hari has managed to rescue the entirety of the Foundation and Termini by taking them inside the Vault. As per Hari’s instructions, Hober had made a secret alliance with Spacers, which resulted in the destruction of the entire Imperial fleet. Hari’s grand plan succeeded in two major aspects: immensely weakening the genetic dynasty and getting rid of the target set on the foundation by destructing the Terminus as well. The Terminus turned out to be a sacrifice that saved the lives of billions and also protected knowledge for a prolonged period.
Characters Who Survived: Brother Poly, Brother Constant, And Glawen Curr
Two characters in Foundation who have yet to take on an active field role but are integral to Hari’s plan are Brother Poly Verisof and Brother Constant. Both of them are members of the Church of the Galactic Spirit, who were tasked with spreading the words of their prophet, Hari Seldon, to turn more and more planetary systems into allies of the Foundation. While going to preach their religion at Trantor, both of them get caught. Later, Hober Mallow rescues Constant from her execution, and Emperor Day decides to spare Poly’s life as a gesture of peace towards the inhabitants of Terminus. Later, even during the destruction of the planet, Poly gets saved as Hari Seldon’s AI provides refuge to the Foundation and the entire populace of Termini inside his vault. Brother Constant was also sent to safety by Hober Mallow via an escape pod just before the destruction of the Imperial warship. They were captured inside, and she came across the vault as well.
Bel Riose’s fleet comrade and husband, Glawen Curr, was also rescued by Hari and was seen inside the vault.
Hober Mallow And Bel Riose: A Fatal Gambit
The two newly introduced major characters in the second season turned out to be the most significant ones and great levelers of the battlefield between Empire and Foundation. The master trader/conman, Hober Mallow, ended up tricking Cleon XVII, causing a spacer uprising and the destruction of the Imperial space fleet. On the other hand, the people’s champion, formerly disgraced ace general Bel Riose, betrayed the Empire in the final moments for the sake of the galaxy and tricked Day into getting thrown into outer space. However, the duo couldn’t escape death after all, as they remained inside the Shining Dynasty (Bel Riose’s ship) without any way of accessing an escape pod and died a hero’s death. Unfortunately, for Bel Riose, he wasn’t able to know that his husband actually survived despite the planet getting destroyed, which could have provided him with some solace during his last moments.
Genetic Dynasty: Barely Surviving
Already on the course of rapid decline, the Galactic Empire’s downfall was predicted by Hari, which was further ensured in the finale of the second season. Demerzel’s absolute control over the existence of genetic dynasties gets discovered by Dusk, Cleon XVI, and Enjoiner Rue, and as a result, they get promptly killed by the true Empress. Day: Cleon XVII’s hubris results in his demise as well, with Dawn, Cleon XVIII, remaining as the sole survivor of the current dynasty, who also flees with Queen Sareth, who is pregnant with his progeny. Demerzel keeps the Empire on track anyway by decanting three Cleons at the same time—Dawn, Day, and Dusk—but the damage is irreversible.
Situation At Lgnis: A Tragic End
On the other hand, on the planet of Mentalics, Ignis, Salvor Hardin, her mother Gaal Dornick, and Hari Seldon, in their newly acquired bodies, face a formidable opponent in the form of Tellem Bond, the leader of the community of psychics. Tellem kills Hari and makes advances to force her consciousness upon Gaal to acquire her body, but it is revealed that Gaal helped Hari fake his death. Honestly, at this point, ‘Hari Seldon dies, but not really’ has turned into an interesting gag followed through two consecutive seasons, and we hope for its repetition in future seasons as well. Anyway, Hari kills Tellem, but later, the last vestiges of her consciousness possess a Mentalic kid named Josiah, and he tries to kill Gaal as a form of revenge. Salvor kills Josiah, finally ending Tellem, but in the process, she gets fatally shot. The death of Salvor Hardin was significant for a number of reasons: firstly, due to how she was established as an important foe in the “Foundation” lore through the two seasons, and secondly, because Salvor’s death happened before the events of Gaal’s vision about Mule came to pass, it challenged the predestined course of the timeline as well. Still, fans might feel the sudden and abruptly orchestrated death of Salvor to be unnecessary at the same time, and they are right to speculate so.
Although a number of important characters were axed in this season, in the highly advanced world of Foundation, where cloning and consciousness storage are pretty commonplace, resurrection might just be on the cards if necessary.
