The Most Unbelievable Thing about Apple TV+’s Foundation Is Its Shockingly Low Budget
It’s no Stranger Things or WandaVision, but it certainly looks worthy of such a company.
David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman’s Foundation, a sci-fi show based on the book series of the same name by Isaac Asimov, first debuted on Apple TV+ in 2021 to immense success. The series, starring Lee Pace and Jared Harris, follows a group of exiles on a quest to save the civilization by rebuilding it amid the fall of the Galactic Empire.
Foundation season 1, which consists of 10 episodes, was praised by critics and audiences. Specifically, people applauded the show’s visual effects and epic scale, which is curious, considering the series’ production budget.
The entire first season cost just $45 million to make! To put this number into perspective, it is lower than the budget of The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power’s single episode, which is reportedly around $58 million. The same thing goes for Citadel with a $50 million budget per episode.
Foundation season 2, which premiered last month, may have had a slightly bigger budget, although it’s doubtful that it could’ve reached anywhere near the numbers of those other shows (not by a long shot).
This Apple TV+’s series manages to look expensive (Rings of Power-level of expensive) without actually spending that much money on the production. In addition, Foundation is brilliantly written, has an outstanding cast, and great source material. More people should really give it the attention it deserves.
Apple TV+ continues its streak of making quality sci-fi shows (Foundation now joins Silo and For All Mankind on the pedestal) on a low budget at a time when no other streaming platform dares to attempt another dive into the genre.
With season 3 in development, Foundation is well on its way to becoming a staple of modern adaptations of established sci-fi.
Foundation season 2 episode 6 titled Why the Gods Made Wine will be available for streaming on Apple TV+ on August 18.