‘Foundation’: Prague production on season three of Apple TV+ series delayed again

Prague production on season three of Apple TV’s Foundation was expected to resume later this month after being interrupted last summer, but has been delayed yet again, reports Deadline. Cast and crew who had already gathered in Prague were reportedly told to head back home, with no date for filming to resume on the schedule.

According to Deadline, the reason for the Foundation delay is “issues with budgeting and physical production” which doesn’t sound particularly good for either the series or its production in Prague.

Changes to the Czech Republic’s film incentives program as well as extreme inflation could mean that the series is significantly more expensive to produce in the Czech Republic in 2024 than when season two began shooting locally in early 2022.

The latest delay is a serious blow for both fans of Foundation as well members of the local film industry, who had expected to resume work on the series later this month. When production of Foundation disbanded production last summer, Prague Studios, where the series was primarily shot, had to lay off a reported 1,700 employees.

An adaptation of legendary sci-fi author Isaac Asimov’s series of novels, Foundation stars Jared Harris, Lee Pace, Lou Llobell, Leah Harvey, Laura Birn, and Terrence Mann in a complex story of a band of exiles on distant planets who unite to save their empire.

Foundation was created by David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman, with the first season shot in Malta debuting on Apple TV+ back in 2021. The second season, which transitioned to Prague in 2022, drew acclaim as a major step forward following its release on the streaming platform last summer.

This marks the second significant delay for the third season of Foundation following the SAG-AFTRA actors’ guild strike last summer. The strike resulted in the series shutting down production in Prague with roughly one-third of its filming completed.

AMC managed to negotiate a exemption for the second season of Interview with the Vampire, which resumed its Prague shoot in November, while the third season of The Wheel of Time continued to shoot despite the ongoing strike. Ultimately, both series managed to escape the strike without significant delays, while Foundation appears to have now lost at least a year, if filming resumes at all.

This winter has been particularly mild on the Prague production scene, following changes to the Czech Republic’s film incentives program that set a cap on tax rebates per project went into effect.

The past two years saw major productions film in the Czech capital over the winter months, including the John Wick spinoff Ballerina, starring Ana de Armas and Keanu Reeves, and the Netflix action sequel Extraction II, starring Chris Hemsworth.

Productions currently filming in Prague include season two of the German-language Netflix series The Empress, about Empress Elisabeth of Austria, which continues is lengthy local shoot from last autumn. The French-produced Czech series Daughter of the Nation (Dcera národa) has also filmed in the Czech capital early this year, and the American series FBI: International will also shoot in Prague in the upcoming weeks.