Foundation Season 3 Episode 8 Sneakily Spoils The End Of The Story

Spoilers ahead for "Foundation" season 3 episode 8, "Skin in the Game." (And for the "Foundation" book series, too.)

"Foundation" audiences are experiencing the build-up and climactic showdown of the Mule (Pilou Asbæk) as the primary force threatening the show's titular settlement in season 3. The creators of Apple TV+'s impressive sci-fi series have built up the Mule's backstory and tweaked the character to fit the needs of their adaptation. They've also used the latest season to reveal the primary counterweight to the Mule's galactic ambitions: the Second Foundation. Founded by Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) and now led by Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobel) and the telepathically robust First Speakers, the group on the distant planet of Ignis is about to show its full might as the mentalic Mule makes mincemeat of both the traditional forces of the First Foundation and the crumbling Galactic Empire.

In the midst of the drama, the latest episode also dropped a direct but sneaky hint at a major future part of the show: a mentalic planet called Gaia.

As the First Speaker Preem Palver (Troy Kotsur) confronts Gaal and informs her that the Second Foundation isn't going to let her face the Mule alone, he says something interesting about how the telepathic members of their community talk:

"On Ignis we walk in each other's thoughts so much we're like one thing — One f***ing creature."

At first, this feels like a throwaway line. A quick mention that you can easily miss as the show barrels on toward the final showdown between Gaal and the Mule. But that reference to being a single organism is actually a critical piece of the larger Foundation puzzle.

The Mule is one of the most exciting parts of Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" novels. But while he is the ultimate villain, he isn't the end of the story. On the contrary, there are multiple books that follow his eventual end (which we won't spoil here — and trust me, if you don't know how the books go, this guy's ending is pretty unexpected). After the Mule, Hari Seldon's reboot of human civilization continues, now with two Foundations, the First and Second, clearly established and operating. Eventually, a third entity enters into the picture, too: the planet Gaia.

Gaia is settled by robots, like Demerzel (Laura Birn), who connects all the way back to Asimov's robot novels. These support the development of a human community of mentalics that author Asimov refers to as the Anti-Mules. The group goes beyond individual ability and learns to commune together as — dare I say it? — a single creature. They become an individual, group-think consciousness and eventually extend that consciousness to the flora and fauna of the planet itself, turning the entire thing into an organism with incredible mentalic power.

While the Second Foundation is able to share thoughts and work collectively, Preem Palver's line in the show seems to go beyond excellent teamwork. It hints at this larger collective. The question is, will we get a "Gaia" equivalent in the show if it continues past season 3? Will a separate group founded by robots show up at some point? Or will we see a simplification of the original story? I'm inclined to believe that the Second Foundation on Ignis (which is already a change from the books, where they're headquartered on the Imperial capital of Terminus) will end up doubling as Gaia in the show. Its people will become the Anti-Mules and will ultimately help guide humanity toward its next step after millennia of galactic imperial power. Of course, only time (and at least a fourth season) will tell.

"Foundation" is streaming on Apple TV+.