Warning! Spoilers ahead for Foundation season 2.
Summary
Foundation star Lee Pace talks about why Cleon defies his protocol training in season 2. Pace plays Cleon in the Apple TV+ sci-fi series, which adapts the Isaac Asimov stories. The actor is no stranger to the genre, having starred in tentpoles like Guardians of the Galaxy and The Hobbit. But it’s in Foundation that the Emmy nominee takes on an intriguing persona, portraying a Cleon in his prime.
In an interview with Collider, Pace discusses why Cleon rejects his training in Foundation season 2. The actor stressed that Cleon had an ego, detailing how that comes into play. He also sheds light on the character’s mentality, and how that way of thinking translates into Cleon’s actions. Pace also pokes a bit of fun at Cleon and his tendency towards voice. Read the full quote below:
This is a very particular emperor. His conditions are very particular. He is raised by an artificial intelligence who has groomed him for this position and needs him to function in a very specific way, and the Cleon that I play in this season is rejecting that. The Cleon in this season is saying, “No, actually, I’m going to write my own destiny. I am an individual. I am not someone’s clone. I’m going to do it the way I want to do it.”
He’s got an ego, like, “I’ve got it. Don’t you worry about me. If anyone can do it, it’s me.” But I think it’s an emotional experience, and I think it leaves him a little bit in the wilderness because he doesn’t have, always, the support of this relationship that thinks for him. He’s the emperor of the galaxy, but he’s not really permitted or expected to think, and he’s starting to. And I think the way he thinks is in a very primitive way, which is, “I want, I’m gonna go get, and if anyone stands in my way, I’m gonna kill.” It’s a primitive way of thinking, it is. He’s angry and violent, but it works for him. [Laughs]
Where Foundation Season 2 Leaves Lee Pace’s Cleon
Foundation season 2 offered a brutal conclusion to Cleon XVII, the current Brother Day. Even though the Apple TV+ adapted sci-fi began with Cleon’s plan to diversify the bloodline, even marrying characters off together, the story goes to a very different place by the time the finale rolls around. Cleon is killed off in the closing episode, and it’s fairly brutal.
Even though Riose and the rest of the fleet followed Cleon’s orders at first, they declined to move forward with the bloodshed. Pace’s character wanted to destroy all seven planets the Foundation claimed, despite the fact that none posed any actual threat. Cleon believed that he’d already defeated Riose, opening the ship’s shuttle. But ultimately, it was Cleon that ended up thrown into the vacuum of space. Riose showed her ability to survive, using Hober Mallow’s casting device to trade places with Cleon with just one left before the shuttle was opened.
Foundation season 3 has yet to be confirmed, although showrunner David S. Goyer has struck an optimistic tone. It is expected that, if a third installment does happen, then Lee Pace will be one of the returning actors. So even though Cleon’s ego ended badly for him, resulting in a gnarly demise, that hopefully won’t be the end of the story for the buzzy Apple TV+ show.
Source: Collider
