Exclusive: Laura Birn Talks About “Solving the Mystery of Demerzel” In Foundation
Is this really the end?
In an explosive Season 3 finale of Foundation, the series makes several pivots that are utterly unlike the two previous season finales of the show. While the trademark of the series has always been its ability to jump forward in time, the show has always had a very specific trick of bringing familiar faces into the new centuries, thanks to the sci-fi tropes of clones, cryo-sleep, and one very special immortal robot.
But now, in Season 3, Episode 10, “The Darkness,” Foundation is shaking up its format in many unexpected ways. And, at least one character seems to perish in a way that was totally unexpected and utterly unprecedented. The journey of this character predates the canon of Foundation, meaning any version of the story now will be fundamentally very, very different. Spoilers ahead.
Demerzel's fate, revealed
Demerzel, just before the end.
Unwilling to accept his predetermined demise, Brother Dusk (Terrence Mann) seizes complete power of Empire in the absence of both Brother Day (Lee Pace) and Brother Dawn (Cassian Bilton). Echoing Cleon 17’s stated goal from the previous season (and 152 years in the past) of ending the genetic dynasty forever. While Cleon 17’s method was simply going to be to start having children, Brother Dusk’s tactics in Season 3 are far bloodier and more unhinged. He destroys all the growing clones, from full adults to infants, but leaves one baby for Demerzel to protect.
Because her programming compels her to project any version of Empire, she puts her body between the child and the massively destructive beam, which, shockingly, melts her entire body. In the end, all that’s left of Demerzel is her robot skull, and the version of Hari Seldon’s Prime Radiant, which, in this season, we learned she helped create.
Demerzel was over 18,000 years old and predates the Imperial Cleon reign. Throughout Season 3, Brother Day learned of a robot cult, called the Inheritance, which hoped for the robots to return and save humanity from darkness. We also learned about something called “a Clasp,” a way for robots to share their thoughts across great distances. At the very end of the episode, Demerzel does not return to life, but the dormant robot skull that Day took from the cult does reactivate and initiate a Clasp with robots, seemingly hiding far away on the Moon of...Earth.
This is the first time Earth has been glimpsed in the present tense of Foundation, but this twist aligns with the Isaac Asimov novel Foundation and Earth (1986), which fully connects the canon of Asimov’s robot novels with his Foundation novels. If Foundation Season 4 — which has been confirmed to be in development — continues to loosely adapt the books, it’s possible that some version of Demerzel could return. Maybe.
Exclusive clip: Laura Birn talks about the journey of Demerzel
A behind-the-scenes look at Laura Birn as Demerzel in Foundation Season 3.
Outside of all the shocking twists about the Mule, the apparent slaying of all the Cleons, and Brother Dusk shooting Brother Day, the murder of Demerzel is easily the most transformative event in the Season 3 finale. Foundation has meticulously built a tragic, bittersweet, and terrifying arc for Demerzel, a long-lived robot, who not only follows a religion but seems to truly love the clone Emperors she protects.
Her secret status as a robot has given the character a degree of tragedy and menace simultaneously. And, though the final moments of Season 3 reveal that there are still living robots in the galaxy, her story has been defined by extreme isolation combined with immense power and influence.
In an exclusive clip from Apple TV+, Birn and her co-stars talk about the journey of Demerzel, in what seems like a behind-the-scenes farewell to the character.
Birn notes that in Season 3, Demerzel had a harder time “obeying her programming,” which, at many times, seemed to suggest that she would break away from the Cleons. Instead, in the end, her programming is exactly what destroyed her.
Is this truly the end for the character? In the clip, Birn does make it seem like she’s completed a journey, saying: “Solving the mystery of Demerzel has just been a joy.”
