Foundation Season 2: Lee Pace And Co-Stars Preview An 'Unhinged' Brother Day As The Battle For Succession Heats Up

Brother Day in Foundation's first season was a contained monster. Known to lose his temper now and then, he still listened to his brothers Dawn and Dusk and delivered malicious threats with a calm voice and polite smile.

With the Empire starting to crumble, Season 2 — premiering this Friday on Apple TV+ — will see a more tumultuous Day fighting to hold onto his diminishing power and influence over the galaxy.

"I do think he is kind of unhinged," Lee Pace, who plays Brother Day, tells TVLine. "I think he's responding to an empire that is in decline that he is responsible for."

Day, along with Dawn and Dusk, are the latest in a long succession of cloned emperors created to rule the Galactic Empire under the guise of genetic purity. (In the Season 1 finale, Day learned that rebels contaminated Cleon I's DNA as well as the clones' genetic samples, making it impossible to produce pure clones.)

This season, Day will attempt to upend their longstanding cloning tradition by creating a family of his own through procreation.

"He's also asserting his individuality. He's no longer buying into this idea of imperishable permanence, that he's one of a succession of clones that will just go on into infinity," Pace explains. "He plans to take a wife, to have a child and end the cloning and allow the empresses that had preceded the genetic dynasty to regain control of the galaxy."

This puts their robot advisor Demerzel — who's served the emperor since Cleon I — in a tough spot, given that her whole purpose is to preserve the empire by aiding all three clones.

"We see a version of her that... she needs to be more extreme because the sitting crown is more extreme," portrayer Laura Birn shares. "In Season 1, we see the tension between [Day and Demerzel]. She teaches everything [the clones] know. She kind of raises them."

However, with Day, things get "heated because they both have different opinions of how an empire should be ruled," she notes. "They're enslaved by each other, and they're both imprisoned in this weird marriage. [They have a] marriage-like relationship."

Dawn, meanwhile, is just trying to gain his bearings knowing that he'll one day follow in the footsteps of his brothers.  

"Originally, he's on the sidelines looking at the older brothers and thinking, 'Well, how am I going to emulate them? How am I going to grow up to be like them?'" co-star Cassian Bilton says. "When Queen Sareth comes along, everything changes. The whole game is flipped upside down, and he's maybe seeing the older brothers as a threat."

"I think Brother Day is really threatening the line of succession," Bilton adds, "and he might get rid of Brother Dawn. As a result, Dawn is quick to act on his toes and try to dodge the attempts to [oust] him."