David S. Goyer Talks ‘Foundation,’ Taking Liberties With Source Material & Stepping Away From Superheroes [The Playlist Podcast]

David S. Goyer is a filmmaker who is well-known to a certain segment of the film-going population. But those who know him from his superhero work will be shocked when they watch his latest TV series, “Foundation.” And Goyer recently joined The Playlist Podcast to talk about his new show, as well as his legacy as the comic book film writer.

For those unaware, Goyer has been working in Hollywood for decades, having written many films that are iconic in the eyes of genre film fans, with projects such as “The Dark Knight,” “Blade,” and “Dark City,” just to name a few. He’s long been associated with comic book movies and superheroes, but his upcoming Apple TV+ series is something very different.

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“Foundation,” is based on the classic sci-fi book series from writer Isaac Asimov and tells the story of the far future where the galaxy is ruled by a totalitarian regime and a rogue mathematician has developed a way to use math to predict the future. And once he predicts the fall of the empire, the leaders take him on and try to disprove his science as propaganda.

Goyer admits the story for “Foundation,” though set thousands of years in the future, is “eerily prescient” when you look at what is going on in the world today. Science and politics seem to be at odds in 2021, and that adversarial relationship between objective truths and politics is at the heart of his new series.

“I think it’s clear, when Asimov was writing the original trilogy, that he was aware of the way science can be politicized,” said Goyer. “That’s one of the themes of the books. So it’s one of the themes that we carried on in the TV show. But I don’t think any of us could imagine at all just how much science would become politicized today.”

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Politics aside, “Foundation” is one of the most beloved science fiction novels of all time. And when tasked with bringing this series to life, Goyer was well aware that he would have to update the story that was written more than 70 years ago.

“Of course, you have to approach it with reverence,” the writer explained. “But at the same time, the audience that is receiving the show today is not the audience that Asimov was writing to 70 years ago.”

He added, “I can’t write about a post-World War II environment. I have to write about the world today. Asimov was writing to a primarily male audience, there are virtually no female characters in the first book. That’s not the case today…Fortunately, the [Asimov] Estate and Robyn Asimov embraced that.”

Of course, we couldn’t sit down and talk with Goyer without bringing up superhero films. Having helped craft “The Dark Knight” Trilogy with Christopher Nolan, as well as the “Blade” franchise and various other superhero films over the years, Goyer feels that he’s pretty much exhausted his well of superhero storytelling. So, don’t expect any new Goyer-penned capes and cowls projects anytime soon.

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“It was as delight to work on [‘Man of Steel’], but even when we were moving into [‘Batman v. Superman’], I felt like there were a lot of things that I already said with [comic book movies], and I was eager to do something different,” he said. “So right around the time that was ending, the proposition of ‘Sandman’ and ‘Foundation’ came up…I had a really good run doing comic book adaptations, but I’m also really excited to not be doing them. At least for me, there are only so many stories I could tell about a person putting on a cape.”

“Foundation” arrives on Apple TV+ on September 24. You can hear our full discussion below:

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