Foundation season three has ended (we’re still reeling) and we are more than thrilled that a fourth season is on the way. Though Apple TV+’s Asimov adaptation has a lot of things to recommend about it—complex characters, dynamic worldbuilding, a plot that celebrates the wonders of math—you also can’t count out the Lee Pace factor.
The charismatic, cult-beloved actor has been a pivotal part of all three seasons. Though Foundation takes place across hundreds of years, the galaxy it’s set in is ruled by clones who are replaced over time. Pace plays the Cleon clone named Brother Day, and the iterations of him we’ve met across three seasons have been widely varied.
In season one, Cleon XIII underwent a grueling religious pilgrimage to prove he had a soul—and therefore cut off a would-be power grab from religious opponents. In season two, Cleon XVII toyed with the idea of ending the genetic dynasty, then escalated the conflict with Foundation and was undone by his own ego. Season three’s Cleon XXIV shirks his royal duties, preferring to hang with his lady friend and get high—at least until he discovers a more noble purpose.
That’s a too-brief summary of the various Brother Days Foundation has introduced over the years. But it’s important to note they all look like Lee Pace—and they’re forever popping up in various stages of undress.
In a new interview with GQ, Pace discussed the fitness routine he followed to be ready to leap out of Cleon’s robes at any moment.
“Every season I play a different character, and it’s very important to me to create physicality for the characters, to help tell that story, even though the idea is that they’re the same man cloned again and again,” he said. “I guess it’s important for me and my own sanity to know that none of us can actually be the same, that clones are impossible, that we are intrinsically individuals and unique from each other. So it’s important to me to make a very different body for these characters every season.”
Pace has worked with the same trainer for the duration of Foundation, he said, to help him embody each version of Cleon that he’s played. “In the first season, he was the strong emperor of the galaxy, eager to execute people. And in the second season, I guess I just went wild with this idea of his ego, that he actually believed he was the most important person in the galaxy.”
Season three, Pace said, was less about spending long hours in the gym. “It was important for me this season to think about the character as pretty relaxed—and you can still exercise in a relaxed way. I think that’s something that I very much appreciate because I don’t like feeling overly pressured. We also wanted to push a lot of weight with the character. We felt like there was a size to him that felt right.”
If you haven’t yet watched the season three finale, “The Darkness,” and you care about Foundation spoilers, stop here!
In the season three finale, Brother Day—who chose to have his royal self-healing nanites removed—is murdered by his older brother, Darkness, who then smashes all the tanks containing the backup Cleon clones.
Does that mean Pace won’t be back for Foundation season four? Demerzel, the robot who kept the Cleon conveyor belt moving, has herself been murdered by Darkness. And who knows how much of the equipment needed to clone human beings remains operational?
However, the youngest Cleon—Brother Dawn—is still alive and nearly of the right age to become Brother Day. (In Foundation’s suspension-of-disbelief dramatics, though Brother Dawn is played by Cassian Bilton, Brother Day always looks like Lee Pace.)
Also, the finale made sure to show us that the long-preserved body of Cleon the First is still hanging around. He’s the ruler who implemented the genetic dynasty generations ago, using his own DNA as a blueprint.
But the show’s trajectory toward the long-promised “fall of Empire” suggests that we’ve reached the end of the clone era, even if creating more Cleons could somehow be possible. A lot will depend on where season four picks back up with the story, though given how we left things, it seems likely there won’t be another 150-year gap.
All this is to say that we love Lee Pace and we hope Foundation finds a sci-fi way to keep him on the show. You can watch all three seasons of Foundation on Apple TV+ now.
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