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

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.

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.

14 Comments

iqatedo 21 Years · 1812 comments

About 4 years ago

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).

lkrupp 19 Years · 10521 comments

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

tenthousandthings 17 Years · 1060 comments

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 ...

eightzero 14 Years · 3148 comments

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+.

normm 16 Years · 653 comments

Donald Kingsbury wrote an excellent sequel to the Foundation novels, much better than Asimov's later additions in my opinion, called "Psychohistorical Crisis".