Lee Pace: Brother Day disillusioned with the Empire in 'Foundation' S3

NEW YORK, July 18 (UPI) -- The Hobbit and Guardians of the Galaxy actor Lee Pace says Season 3 of Foundation has a different feel than the previous two chapters of the critically acclaimed sci-fi drama.

New episodes of the adaptation of Isaac Asimov's book series air Fridays on Apple TV+.

The show follows a group of scientists who try to save humanity by rebuilding civilization on a remote planet amid the fall of the Galactic Empire, which is ruled by a genetic dynasty of three clones -- Pace's Brother Day, Terrence Mann's Brother Dusk and Cassian Milton's Brother Dawn.

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"He doesn't want any relationship with any of them. He's very disillusioned with the entire idea of Empire, that he's an emperor and he wants to get as far away from the jerks in the palace as he possibly can," Pace, 46, told UPI about Brother Day in a recent Zoom interview.

"He wants to hang out in the garden and get stoned and eat and just be fat and happy," Pace explained.

Laura Birn stars n "Foundaton." New episodes air Fridays. Photo courtesy of Apple TV+

"He doesn't want to sit there and play politics on the throne anymore and he hates the people who think that they can. He's not someone who thinks that it's worth trying to control anything. You can't do it. Not even the robot can do it. ... Might as well just relax. If things are going to fall apart, they're going to fall apart. There's no saving them."

Laura Birn arrives on the red carpet for the film "Before Midnight" during the Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin in 2013. File Photo by David Silpa/UPI

The Crow alum Laura Birn, 44, plays Demerzel, a humanoid robot and the trio's most trusted adviser.

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"I'm excited to explore the relationship between Demerzel and Day. I just find it endlessly interesting and surprising and disturbing this year," Birn said.

"It's the part that I always wait most for when I get the new scripts, like, 'What's happening between them and this weird little dysfunctional family?'"

Pace agreed.

"i always find that really interesting and we have a great time working together, too, so it's such a fun dynamic to see: 'Well, what hands do we have this season? How is this game going to play out?'" he said.

Season 3 sees the introduction of The Mule (Pilou Asbæk), a villain who uses mind control on his foes, but Pace said Brother Day doesn't even really know he exists.

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"He's too far away and insignificant," the actor added.

"The Mule is the big instigator of the season and a very huge disruptor, but one of the things that's so interesting to me about Foundation is that it's not a story about battles. You might think that's the case from the beginning of this season where you've got a great, big, powerful Foundation and you've got a great, big, powerful Empire. You think they're going to clash in some way."

But that's not actually where the story goes, Pace emphasized.

"It's about the center falling out and then this crumbling over here and then that group kind of having a different opinion and eating each other," he said.

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"It's like the disintegration from lots of places. That's what chaos does to order," Pace added. "That's what The Mule is. He is the invention of chaos."

Demerzel -- on the other hand -- thrives on mayhem.

"The chaos and the destruction that he brings is kind of like another crisis to attack, to solve, but, at the same time, there's this weird possibility of freedom or something new or something unexpected for her," Birn noted.

"She doesn't have clear answers," the actress added. "She's insecure of which direction is the right direction. Is her programming sending one direction or could it be this and that? And what happens? Her mind exploding for all these options is part of what The Mule offers for her. It is like the possibility to see things differently, so it definitely changes her course."

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So, is Foundation a cautionary tale for viewers in 2025?

"I wouldn't want to tell anyone how to watch the show," Pace said.

"The show is such a feast," he added. "You can pick and choose and think about things that resonate with you."

The fact that the brilliant Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) has devised a way to protect and store all human knowledge on a safe planet is a positive message to impart to audiences.

"At the center of the show is this idea of hope that Hari Selden proposes that there is a mathematical likelihood that we will survive this," Pace said.

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"It's not a zero chance that we will," he added. "There's a hope inside the show that I really appreciate. There's a sense of, 'You can bet on humans' ability to continue to travel on.'"

Birn said she thinks her character's existence also makes the show relevant to people grappling with real-life issues connected to artificial intelligence.

"We've created AI. We've taught AI everything it knows. But not even the ones who are creating it now have an idea where it will evolve and what happens if, suddenly, there's another species that's equal to us or even dominant," she added.

"It's more than being afraid of AI, but more being a little bit afraid of how we will treat that other species, if it evolves."

The cast also includes Lou Llobell, Cherry Jones, Brandon P. Bell, Synnøve Karlsen, Cody Fern, Tómas Lemarquis, Alexander Siddig and Troy Kotsur.