Foundation Season 3 Trailer Teases Mule, but Hints at Demerzel’s Rise

Info in Movie News | Foundation is going to make a comeback on Apple TV+ after almost two years, with the much-anticipated third season. However, this time, the situation is different as the new galactic menace called The Mule, a mysterious warlord who is not only armed with the military but also the frightening ability of mind control, has appeared. Yet one key character is almost completely missing from the trailer, Demerzel.

According to ScreenRant, Demerzel’s near-absence from Foundation Season 3’s trailer raises questions. Laura Birn was the one who portrayed Demerzel, who was very impressive in Season 2’s “Long Ago, Not Far Away,” the highest-rated episode in the series on IMDb with a score of 9.2/10. This episode of the show was a very interesting character study of Demerzel’s, basically a robot from ancient times and a character who has deeper connections to both the Empire and Hari Seldon’s psychohistory movement.

To give some context, Foundation is a TV series on Apple TV+ that is loosely based on the famous sci-fi works of Isaac Asimov, and it often goes beyond or changes the original material. Just like Demerzel and the cloned rulers of the Empire, other characters are also reinterpreted or the books give only a shallow glimpse while more are explored in the series. In Asimov’s universe, Demerzel is actually an alias for R. Daneel Olivaw, a robot originally introduced in the Robot novels, which are technically part of the same continuity as Foundation.

In the books, Daneel becomes Seldon’s advisor and the silent architect behind psychohistory. The show hints at this backstory but hasn’t fully confirmed it. Still, Foundation fans are starting to put the pieces together, especially since Season 2 revealed that Demerzel may have known Hari much earlier than previously thought.

Season 3 picks up 152 years after the events of Season 2. The Galactic Empire is in a state of decay, Foundation has become strong, and the Mule is coming into the picture as a new danger. His power to control people's minds and fanatical-like loyalty has turned him into one of the most dangerous adversaries that the galaxy has ever seen.

But one trailer moment may hint at Demerzel’s rising importance. When Brother Day (Lee Pace) said, “Everything is going to end, and she’s the only one who can stop it,” most people interpreted it as a reference to Demerzel. Day, who looks tired in the trailer, is a sign that the Empire’s power has waned, and perhaps Demerzel is the one who is pulling the strings.

One of the things that makes Foundation so compelling is its ability to balance epic battles that stretch across the universe and the very personal lives of the characters. Demerzel, who has to deal with her robot nature and the fact that she is bound by the laws which she hates, could be the emotional and philosophical source of the series in Season 3. If the series goes further to explore her being as a character from the Robot novels, she would become the main character in the story of the galaxy’s new era.

Foundation Season 3 starts on July 11, 2025, and there will be new episodes every week till September 12. Jared Harris as Hari Seldon, Lou Llobell as Gaal Dornick, and Lee Pace as Brother Day are the returning cast. The new cast members are Cherry Jones, Brandon P. Bell, and Pilou Asbæk.

With the Empire in decline, a new villain on the rise, and Demerzel waiting in the shadows, Foundation’s third season might be its most ambitious, and most unpredictable, yet.

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