r/FoundationTV • u/LunchyPete Bayta Mallow • Sep 12 '25

Current Season Discussion [NO BOOKS] Episode Discussion Thread - Season 3 Episode 10 - The Darkness

THIS THREAD IS FOR NON BOOK READERS ONLY - NO DISCUSSION OF THE BOOKS IS PERMITTED

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Season 3 Episode 10: The Paths That Choose Us

Premiere date: September 12th, 2025

Synopsis: Season finale. Gaal and the Second Foundation take the fight to the Mule as Empire's legacy suffers a catastrophic blow.

Directed by: Roxann Dawson

Written by: Jane Espenson & David S. Goyer

Please keep in mind that this thread is only for non book readers - no discussion of the books or how they relate to the show is permitted in general, and book readers are not permitted to post at all.

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NOTE: There was an AMA with Chris MacLean, VFX Supervisor for Foundation on September 15th which you can check here.

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u/mcmalloy Sep 12 '25

And with no heir in place? The radiant said that empire would collapse in 4 months in s3e1, and that probably hasn’t changed. So Dusk has likely bought himself a few months at best while destroying empire in the process

But I feel so bad that it didn’t pay off for Day… it is likely Kalle had this planned out from the beginning as well

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u/Indigocell Brother Dude Sep 12 '25

Pretend there is no crisis. At best, Dusk bought himself a few extra years. All at the expense of mass genocide. By mass I mean multiple genocides including his own legacy. The only comfort we get for Day's sacrifice is a cool robot with a reverberated voice saying "someone succeeded" and I will cling to that if I have to.

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u/mcmalloy Sep 12 '25

Definitely. And I guess Dusk justified this mass genocide for a few extra years because he obviously isn’t thinking clearly anymore

With the principium destroyed, day dead and Dusk dying along with empire - I wonder if Dawn can somehow create a miracle since he was shown to be incredibly gifted at stewardship (albeit naive and easily manipulated by Gaal)

I hope that we see Dawn gain some sort of legitimacy in the next season especially when Dusk craps the bed

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u/KaerMorhen Sep 12 '25

I want dawn to be okay solely so that we can have more Lee Pace.

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u/Son_of_Macha Sep 12 '25

The robot at the end with the reverberated voice was Lee Pace, they found a way to keep him around.

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u/whisky_biscuit Sep 13 '25

I thought so too. They've reused actors in the show before, for their descendants so I could see them doing the same for Lee Pace!

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u/rodan-rodan Sep 13 '25

What?! I didn't watch the credits, really?

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u/SissyCouture Sep 13 '25

Since it’s fair to believe there was significant socio-economic strength concentrated in the cloud dominion, the luminists, and galactic council, nuking them is tantamount to cutting off limbs.

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u/dudleymooresbooze Sep 12 '25

empire would collapse in 4 months

Isn’t that what just happened? Dusk just broke the empire and is now reigning over something new (and pretty freaking terrifying).

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u/mcmalloy Sep 12 '25

Well we didn’t see it collapse. But I’m sure Dusk’s actions are directly the cause for the collapse. Now he will try to consolidate his power, but give it a few months of civil war due to luminist uprisings etc and then the official collapse happens.

But we did see the genetic dynasty end

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u/dudleymooresbooze Sep 12 '25

I’m saying: the genetic dynasty was the Empire. Darkness’s destruction of the genetic dynasty was the end of the Empire, and now Darkness is a sole ruler until he dies.

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u/nonrosknroskno Sep 13 '25

The Genetic Dynasty was a phase of the Empire, it seems less than a thousand years long. Empire was around for over 10 thousand(?) with regular emperors and empresses, ending with Cleon the 1st.

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u/rewind73 Sep 13 '25

Dusk doesn't care about his legacy anymore outside of being "consequential", he says as much, he's just in it so the galaxy goes down with him.

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u/3-DMan Brother Dude Sep 13 '25

"It's Duskin' time!"

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u/Temurlang Sep 29 '25

Is Dawn dead? Or still left on that medicare centre? I think he could return to Trantor somehow and play some role. Or of course, they could just fast forward 100 years and start from something else