Apple TV+ 'Foundation' series production halts over coronavirus fears

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Production on the Apple TV+ show 'Foundation" has been put on hold in Ireland, with Skydance Television and Apple concerned over the safety of its cast and crew working in Ireland, amid new restrictive measures aimed at fighting the coronavirus spread.

Detail from a paperback edition of the first
Detail from a paperback edition of the first "Foundation" novel by Isaac Asimov


Skydance and Apple had been filming scenes for the high-profile drama in Ireland, with "Foundation" being one of the country's biggest film and TV productions, with over 500 jobs created by the operation. The Apple TV show is being shot in Troy Studios in Limerick, but filming has stopped for the moment due to the current coronavirus pandemic.

"Skydance, along with Apple, have made the decision to temporarily suspend filming on Foundation," a statement to Deadline said on Thursday. "The health and safety of our cast and crew is our top priority and we are closely monitoring the situation."

The statement surfaces after Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar implemented measures on Thursday that closes schools, colleges, and other major public facilities until March 29. Restrictions also prevent mass indoor gatherings of more than 100 people, and outdoor gatherings of more than 500 people, while official advice is for people to work remotely from home where possible.

"Foundation" is a retelling of Isaac Asimov's famous novels about galactic empires. The show is being written by Josh Friedman and David S. Goyer, with the executive producers list including Robyn Asimov, daughter of Isaac.

The production shutdown follows a similar break being performed by the cast and crew of Apple TV+'s "The Morning Show" announced on Thursday, which will delay filming for at least two weeks over similar fears. The virus has also affected other productions, including the suspension of the CW's "Riverdale" on Wednesday, while crew of Fox show "NeXt" is suspected of being exposed to COVID-19.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,824member
    Who else read the Foundation series when they were young? Hours sitting up in bed into the late hours reading Asimov, Doc E. Smith and others. Very, very fond memories of days before the Net and personal devices (including PCs).

    edited March 2020 Ephraimrosse59SpamSandwichStrangeDaysminicoffeesailorpaul
  • Reply 2 of 14
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    iqatedo said:
    Who else read the Foundation series when they were young? Hours sitting up in bed into the late hours reading Asimov, Doc E. Smith and others. Very, very fond memories of days before the Net and personal devices (including PCs).

    I have read almost all of Asimov's science fiction, starting with the Foundation Trilogy when I was 13 years old. My mother let me join the science fiction book club which offered monthly books. As well as Asimov I read most of Clark's works, Phillip K Dick, Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Ursula Le Guin.

    Asimov also wrote a number of sci-fi stories for young people called Luck Starr under the pseudonym of Paul French. I have most of those in my collection also
    StrangeDaysiqatedo
  • Reply 3 of 14
    tenthousandthingstenthousandthings Posts: 1,037member
    iqatedo said:
    Who else read the Foundation series when they were young? Hours sitting up in bed into the late hours reading Asimov, Doc E. Smith and others. Very, very fond memories of days before the Net and personal devices (including PCs).

    I recently re-read the first book, at least forty years after reading it for the first time — of course, when I was reading the trilogy in the 70s they were already classics. It is a challenging format — I suspect they will begin with the opening story of the first book, because if they don’t, there will be a riot, but they will also bring the backstory into it from the later prequels (published 1988 and 1993), which I don’t think I’ve ever read ... 
    iqatedo
  • Reply 4 of 14
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,069member
    iqatedo said:
    Who else read the Foundation series when they were young? Hours sitting up in bed into the late hours reading Asimov, Doc E. Smith and others. Very, very fond memories of days before the Net and personal devices (including PCs).

    Yes indeed. While I read others too (Geo. O Smith/ Venus Equilateral; Heinlein, AC Clark, Schmitz) Isaac was always the fave. What was sort of tragic was how those personal devices like the PCs seemed to affect Isaac's writing. Once he got his hands on a word processor (about about 1980 or so) he seemed to stop editing. Later "Foundation" books were not as good (IMO). He wrote about breaking into the business in getting "Nightfall" published, and it was common to be paid by the word. OTOH, perhaps this is common for successful writers. Once they Hit The Big Time, publishers will take anything from them, because there is a ready audience, no editing needed. David Weber and Tom Clancy are two I know that suffered from this. Their first 1/2 dozen books really excellent. Then...crap. 

    Hope the production staff stays safe, and they can resume soon. This is the one bit of content that would make me seek out Apple TV+.
    minicoffeeiqatedo
  • Reply 5 of 14
    normmnormm Posts: 653member
    Donald Kingsbury wrote an excellent sequel to the Foundation novels, much better than Asimov's later additions in my opinion, called "Psychohistorical Crisis".

  • Reply 6 of 14
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,213member
    I would hope it translates better to a big screen than the Dune books did. I was extremely disappointed. The Lord of the Rings movies on the other hand while straying from and brushing thru much of the detail in the books themselves did an overall entertaining job on Tolkien's books. if Foundation becomes the latter rather than staying absolutely true to the written word it could be really good. 
  • Reply 7 of 14
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    iqatedo said:
    Who else read the Foundation series when they were young? Hours sitting up in bed into the late hours reading Asimov, Doc E. Smith and others. Very, very fond memories of days before the Net and personal devices (including PCs).

    I recently re-read the first book, at least forty years after reading it for the first time — of course, when I was reading the trilogy in the 70s they were already classics. It is a challenging format — I suspect they will begin with the opening story of the first book, because if they don’t, there will be a riot, but they will also bring the backstory into it from the later prequels (published 1988 and 1993), which I don’t think I’ve ever read ... 
    For those of us who were Foundation fans in the 50s and up there might be a riot no matter what. Whenever a classic novel is ported to the big screen rarely is there universal approval. We have fixed in our minds what the Galactic Empire was all about, Hard Seldon, the Mule, the Second Foundation. Later on, of course, Asimov attempted to unify the Foundation series with his equally popular Robot series in a novel called Robots and Empire. 

    On a side note we classic sci-fi fans have been waiting for a movie adaptation of Arthur C. Clark's Rendezvous With Rama novels. it was rumored at one point that Morgan Freeman had acquired the screenplay rights.
    edited March 2020
  • Reply 8 of 14
    willettwillett Posts: 27member
    Rama serial would also be great.  You know there was a multi-CD game for Rama (1st book) that I thought quite good.  Asimov actively advised on it.  I played it with my kids (ages 8-12).  It ran on power-pc as I recall.
  • Reply 9 of 14
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    willett said:
    Rama serial would also be great.  You know there was a multi-CD game for Rama (1st book) that I thought quite good.  Asimov actively advised on it.  I played it with my kids (ages 8-12).  It ran on power-pc as I recall.
    I know Morgan Freeman was connected to creating a “Rendezvous with Rama” series a long time ago.
  • Reply 10 of 14
    the monkthe monk Posts: 93member
    David Goyer better not blow this one. Sure, under the supervision of Christopher Nolan, he did good work with the Batman movies. But look at his other films —Man of Steel, Dawn of Justice, and Dark Fate which permanently killed the Terminator franchise.
    minicoffee
  • Reply 11 of 14
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,168member
    I thought T3 killed the terminator franchise. Since then it has been like the zombie undead.
  • Reply 12 of 14
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,168member
    Honor Harrington
  • Reply 13 of 14
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,069member
    entropys said:
    Honor Harrington
    Think how well this could work with current CGI. Let's be about it.
    edited March 2020
  • Reply 14 of 14
    bestkeptsecretbestkeptsecret Posts: 4,265member
    the monk said:
    David Goyer better not blow this one. Sure, under the supervision of Christopher Nolan, he did good work with the Batman movies. But look at his other films —Man of Steel, Dawn of Justice, and Dark Fate which permanently killed the Terminator franchise.


    I personally thought Man of Steel was an amazing reinterpretation of Superman in the new paranoid world era. There were some truly unique fx, like the flowing steel dioramas that showed the history of Krypton and were used as phones on Krypton, etc.

    Lois Lane was updated to someone whom I actually give a damn about. You can see why Superman would like her. Finally, the much derided climactic battle between Superman and Zod really shows the kind of devastation that would come about if 2 such super humans fought.


    BvS was really fleshed out in the Ultimate Edition and I really enjoyed it a lot too. It was one of the first titles I upgraded to 4K!


    I'm yet to watch Dark Fate though. I'm not keen on watching any more Terminator films, given how each of them has done nothing but disappoint. T1 and T2 are going to be the definitive ones for me always.

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