One Foundation Season 3 Character May Have A Secret Connection To The Books

This article contains spoilers for "Foundation" season 3.

We're three seasons into "Foundation," and the Apple TV+ show has finally started to play its cards. After two gigantic seasons of setup, the Mule arrived and was revealed with a twist. The importance of the First Foundation has also faded into the background as the Second Foundation has stepped out of the shadows. Big things are happening — and yet, we've barely scratched the surface of Asimov's seven-book story arc (including two prequels). As someone who has read and reread those books, I'm having fun connecting the dots between the source material and showrunner David S. Goyer's creative changes, but there's one character who remains as elusive as ever: Kalle.

Played by Rowena King, Kalle was mentioned in season 1. She popped into season 2, but was mainly busy with giving Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) another physical body to carry on his work. Then, in season 3, Kalle appeared over and over again, bookending the season with critical revelations and showing up in clutch moments. And yet, I still have no idea who she is. Well, that's not quite the right way to put it: I actually have too many ideas about who she is.

Let's start with the obvious: Kalle doesn't have a direct connection to Asimov's books. Neither the Foundation books nor the "Robot" novels (which are in the same universe) have a character with this name or in this role. She was made up for the show, and technically, the character named "Kalle" is a mathematician from season 1 whose visionary work on the Book of Folding helped influence the Abraxas Conjecture — the complex math problem that brings Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell) to Hari Seldon's attention. Since season 1, though, Kalle's character has become veiled in mystery and complexity. Here are my current thoughts on who Kalle is and how she might connect to the larger Foundation story heading into season 4.

There's a good chance that Kalle is a mashup of a few different Asimovian characters — and all of my top guesses for these are robots. The first one that comes to mind is Dors, or more formally, R. Dors Venabili. (And yes, the "R" stands for Robot.)

Dors is a major character in the two prequel novels, "Prelude to Foundation" and "Forward the Foundation." She (and I'll refer to her as "she" for reasons that will become obvious in a second) is tasked with helping the young Hari Seldon develop psychohistory and create the Seldon Plan. Hari and Seldon fall in love and get married (Hari doesn't officially know she's a robot for a long time, but he suspects), and they adopt Raych Seldon (played by Alfred Enoch in season 1) as their son. The intimacy and deeper conversations between Hari and Kalle on the show are the giveaway here, giving strong overtones of this positronic element from the prequels.

Another option is R. Giskard Reventlov. This is a robot from the later "Robot" novels. He is especially important in the book "Robots and Empire," where he helps Demerzel create the Zeroth Law of Robotics and reveals that he's developed the ability to telepathically understand and adjust human emotions (key to the Second Foundation's later powers and abilities).

Lastly, there's R. Daneel Olivaw himself. This is the official name for the robot called Demerzel. Yes, in the books, they're one and the same (and they have other aliases, too). In this case, I'm wondering if, in the show, they've split the role, responsibilities, and story of Daneel into two parts. One could be the obvious and openly named Demerzel (Laura Birn), but Kalle could be another side to that coin.

My "who is Kalle?" thought process has gone further than individual characters, too. I'm starting to wonder if she represents a larger entity — and there are a few options for what that could be. The first is that she's the physical, on-screen embodiment of the Prime Radiant itself. This is what Hari Seldon thinks when he first meets her, and she brings it up again when talking to Demerzel at the end of season 3, in episode 9, "The Paths That Choose Us." In that conversation, though, she also says:

"I know what you wish me to be. Like seeks like. Robots were not designed to stand alone."

Cryptic? Yes. It hints that she's a robot, and earlier in episode 2, "Shadows in the Math," there are multiple additional signs that she's positronic, not human. And yet, her resistance to simply come out and say "yeah, I'm a robot" makes me think there's more going on here. Maybe it's just that she's the Prime Radiant appearing in different forms to different people. Then again, maybe she really is a robot — and if that's true, I think she comes from one of two different places.

The first is Gaia. This is a living planet that is important in the upcoming part of the "Foundation" story. Gaia is settled by humans with robot guides and teachers. Its people have similar powers to the Mule (who comes from there in the books) or the Second Foundation, but they also develop a single, collective consciousness. Kalle could be from that planet and could be hardwired to the collective consciousness, hence her cryptic talk about being more than a single thing.

My other thought is that she's a robot from the Moon. This is revealed at the end of season 3, and it is a critical part of the final part of the "Foundation" story. I won't give much away, but suffice it to say that the Moon has a robot colony on it. Kalle could be part of that group, again feeding her "I'm more than me" narrative. Unfortunately, for all the speculation, we're going to have to at least wait until the greenlit season 4 arrives to get more answers.

"Foundation" season 3 is streaming on Apple TV+.