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Foundation will debut on Apple TV Plus in September

Foundation will debut on Apple TV Plus in September

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There’s no exact date yet

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Foundation — Apple’s big-budget adaptation of the classic Isaac Asimov books — finally has a release date: it’ll debut on Apple TV Plus sometime this September, according to an email to subscribers obtained by MacRumors. An exact release date has yet to be announced, although, presumably, Apple will provide details on that in the coming weeks as the marketing blitz for the show picks up.

The series has been a long time coming. Apple first announced Foundation back in 2018, as one of the marque series for the streaming service, and it debuted a trailer for it during its WWDC keynote presentation last year. But due to delays from the COVID-19 pandemic, the show was delayed to late 2021, and Apple hasn’t really shown off any more footage or information since.

Can ‘Foundation’ bring in viewers to TV Plus?

Set to star Jared Harris as Hari Seldon, Lee Pace the Emperor of the Galaxy, and Lou Llobell as Gaal Dornick, the series appears to be starting at the same place Asimov’s series does: with the Galactic Empire still at its height, but with Seldon’s “psychohistory” predicting its downfall, necessitating the creation of the titular Foundation to house mankind’s knowledge during a new dark age.

Since launching in late 2019, Apple’s streaming service has been searching for its must-watch flagship series, a Game of Thrones, The Witcher, Bridgerton, or Mandalorian of a show that gets viewers to pay the service’s monthly cost. And while the service has seen some success from shows like For All Mankind and The Morning Show — two of its earliest debuts — neither series has turned into the kind of massive hit that can drive an entire streaming service.

So far, the biggest impact of TV Plus has been in the unlikely hero of Jason Sudeikis’ sports comedy Ted Lasso — so much so, in fact, that Apple appears to be timing the end of its extended promotional free trial for day-one TV Plus subscribers just ahead of the show’s upcoming second season. Apple is betting that the show will be the draw to get viewers to start subscribing in earnest.

Apple TV Plus is currently available for $4.99 a month or as part of the company’s Apple One service bundles, which also include iCloud storage, Apple Music, Apple Arcade, and on the highest tier, Apple News Plus and Apple Fitness Plus.