Apple kicked off their WWDC event yesterday, showing off the latest in iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch technology (Widgets! Picture-in-picture! Sleep tracking!). This year is obviously vastly different from previous WWDC presentations because it was held in an empty auditorium because of COVID-19. It’s odd to not hear the rapturous applause from Apple diehards every time Tim Cook mentions, well, anything. It was also different because it ended with the first trailer for their upcoming Apple TV+ series Foundation. The show, based on the book series from sci-fi legend Isaac Asimov, is set to debut sometime next year…hopefully alongside a fold-able iPhone!
Get a look at the trailer:
If I had to sum up Foundation in one word it would be “vast.” This thing looks massive, expensive and ambitious. You would expect no less from the story, which concerns a group of scientists tasked with saving all of civilization through the use of their brains more than their brawn. The book series takes place over thousands of years and has many, many characters. It’s mammoth.
You would also expect no less from Apple, who have more money than most nations and are eager to spend it on something that garners them HBO-like buzz. Apple TV+ hasn’t exactly set the world on fire since its launch, it feels as if it is in some sort of holding pattern. Perhaps Foundation will be the thing that breaks Apple TV+ out of the box and allows it to properly compete with Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and others. Of course, I said the same thing about For All Mankind and Defending Jacob so maybe I should stop predicting Apple TV+’s future.
The Foundation books were not easy reads. They were dense, complicated and unapologetically intellectual. I am wondering how much of that will be retained by Apple. I am hopeful that they don’t transform Foundation into some sort of action series because that is not what it is meant to be.
Foundation, starring Jared Harris, Lee Pace, Leah Harvey, Lou Llobell and more, will begin streaming next year.