Cinema & TV / Premium

Hari Seldon in Foundation Season 2, explained

Posted by

Foundation is back with Season 2, which finally landed on Apple TV+ in July 2023. The series has caught a massive number of spectators already in Season 1, disclosing the beauty of Isaac Asimov’s universe: the TV series has taken several liberties, reinterpreting the story in Asimov books and changing his characters. And with Season 2, one of the most interesting subjects is Hari Seldon, cryptic and enigmatic as always. Many questions have arisen until now: in this article, the character will be explained, and many answers will be provided.

You can watch the official trailer for Foundation season 2 here on Youtube.

Hari Seldon in Foundation Season 2, explained: the story of his character

Hari Seldon is the protagonist of the books in the Foundation series written by Isaac Asimov. However, we cannot rely too much on the story in the books because the TV series has widely changed the character. In the TV series Foundation on Apple TV+, Hari Seldon is an eccentric mathematician who developed Psychohistory, a mathematical model that can predict the future of humanity. Based on what we see in Foundation Season 1, Hari Seldon is using his model to fuel a rebellion against the Empire: he predicts that the Empire will soon fall, and he wants to use his authority to drive how the universe will change after that.

After being processed by the Empire as a subversive, Hari Seldon, Gaal, and his people are exiled to Terminus, where they will be allowed to build the Foundation, the organization aimed to safeguard the knowledge of civilization. However, Hari realizes that he needs to die to increase the survival chances of the Foundation: if its leader dies as a martyr, people will gain more determination in bringing the project to its success. In Season 1 of Foundation, Hari Seldon asks Raych Foss to kill him, taking responsibility for his death, planning that Gaal will take over his leadership. But things go wrong, Gaal watches Raych kill Hari, Raych ejects her from the ship and will later be condemned to death for his murder.

So Hari Seldon dies in Season 1 of Foundation, and we have explained why Raych kills him. However, while the plot of Foundation progresses, we discover that at least two digitalized versions of Hari Seldon still exist. One of them is in the Raven, the ship where Gaal ends up years after Hari’s death. That’s where Hari Seldon and Gaal face each other. Ultimately, Gaal will decide to leave the Raven. But as we discover in Foundation Season 2, she traps Hari Seldon in the Prime Radiant, keeping his digital version imprisoned there for many years, while she continues her journey towards her birth planet Synnax. That’s where Gaal meets Salvor Hardin, her biological daughter, an embryo she donated before being ejected from the Foundation. Meanwhile, another digital version of Hari Seldon has been patiently waiting in the Vault, a mysterious artifact on Terminus: at the end of Foundation Season 1, Hari Seldon comes out of the Vault, instructing Anacreons, Thespins, and Termini to ally together against the Empire, using the Invictus to destroy it.

In Season 2 of Foundation, Hari Seldon looks very different. We see him talking with a female character inside the Prime Radiant, a subject who inherited personality traits from Yanna (the woman he loved) and Kalle (the mathematician who inspired him). We discover that the version of Hari imprisoned in the Prime Radiant is damaged. The way Foundation Season 2 has explained it so far, the female character is the Prime Radiant, helping Hari Seldon find his stability and strength again. By reducing the dimensions of the world he’s trying to sort out, Hari Seldon manages to come out of the Prime Radiant and confronts Gaal again. 

The mystery around Hari Seldon is thick in Foundation Season 2. Can we trust him and his Plan? Will Gaal find a new alliance with him? And what will happen after instructing Anacreons, Thespins, and Termini to destroy the Empire? This threat is still on, and the Invictus is slowly heading to Trantor to attack the Empire. However, Gaal has seen a second crisis coming, and if that’s not appropriately solved, chaos will come, and there will never be peace again. Gaal and Salvor are together in this, and Hari Seldon is there. 

We will drive you in the understanding of Hari Seldon, the Plan and what happens in Foundation Season 2 in this article. Stay tuned.

Discover other movies and TV shows explained on Auralcrave

Published by Carlo Affatigato

Carlo has been a web content creator for over 10 years. He founded Auralcrave in 2015, envisioning it as a new space capable of offering different perspectives on topics that passionate all of us. With a scientific background, Carlo developed an interest in music, cinema, literature, and art at a young age, transforming it into a complementary dimension to his professional growth. For years, he was a music journalist specializing in electronic and dance music, writing for the most important Italian magazines (both online and print). Movies and TV series have been a true obsession in many phases of his life: during university, it was not uncommon for him to set the alarm in the middle of the night to watch classic films airing on TV. With the advent of the Internet, Carlo became a keen observer of web and social phenomena, addressing light topics such as advertising, trends, fashion, and general themes. He is the main author of Auralcrave and personally manages its social media, editorial line, book publication, resource management, and business expansion. A former engineer, life coach, husband, and father, he believes that every area of knowledge has interesting stories that deserve to be told and is convinced that doing so makes the world a better place.