Foundation season 2 episodes 9 and 10 explained Demerzel’s devotion to Celon. The beauty of that reveal is how the end channels the Apple TV show’s themes.
Behind every vainglorious Cleon emperor, there is a woman. The Cleons are not complete without their majordomo-matriarch-handmaid Demerzel (Laura Birn), a humanlike robot thousands of years old. She has one role: to serve Empire and protect the succession of Cleon clones, the elderly Dusk (Terrence Mann), the adult Day (Lee Pace), and the young adult/child Dawn (Cassian Bilton), each decanted to ensure the perpetuating reign of Cleon I’s genetic dynasty.
In Foundation, the science fiction saga of manifold moving parts, the dynamic between the royal Cleon clones and Demerzel continues to be the most arresting storyline of the Isaac Asimov adaptation Foundation (written by David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman) on Apple TV Plus. Seemingly with pleasure, Demerzel has guarded the loop of the Cleon I’s reign. But this season throws her into a royal crisis that explores her tenuous relationship with control, the Cleon I that puppeteers her, and the young Cleons that she puppeteers. And her turmoil tracks with the show’s depiction of the human hubris that allows intended futures to go awry.
[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for Foundation. Interviews in this story were conducted before the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes against the AMPTP went into effect.]
Toward the end of the season, Brother Dusk (the XVIII incarnation) and Dawn (XVI) dive deep into Demerzel’s history and realize she has another title: the “forever empress” of the late Cleon I. The current Cleons realize that they’re the puppets of Demerzel, not the other way around. This means she’ll eliminate the undesirable Cleons — and meddle in their affairs — on behalf of Cleon I.
However, as we come to learn too well in season 2, even a conscientious Demerzel cannot defy this inner programming. If she has to sacrifice a colorblind Dawn because he doesn’t fit the genetic perfection of the first Cleon, she’ll snap his neck. If a Cleon orders her to assassinate Zephyr Halima (T’Nia Miller), she’ll do it. As long as it fits her code’s interpretation of what serves Cleon I, she’ll do it — with tears streaming down her eyes.
But the “forever empress” reveal clashes against another crisis, when Day (Cleon XVII) engages in a royal coup of his own: betrothing himself to an outsider queen, Queen Sareth of Dominion (Ella-Rae Smith), so his bloodline can inherit the throne.
