Foundation Season 3 has finished! The epic season, which saw multiple factions go head-to-head, has concluded in one big season finale. However, it leaves us with both numerous questions and numerous surprise reveals. Nerdgazm spoke with actress Synnøve Karlsen about her role in Foundation Season 3, as well as what the finale means for her character. Don’t worry, AppleTV+ has renewed Foundation for a fourth season, which enters production in 2026!
🚨 SPOILER WARNING 🚨 – This Interview will contain spoilers for Foundation Season 3 & the Season Finale!
The World of Foundation!
Jack: Synnøve, thank you for joining us! I’ve got to start by asking you, what is it like being a part of such a grand production that is Foundation Season 3?
Synnøve: Oh, it’s really exciting. It’s definitely a big step, and from the moment you start something like this, you’re part of this like huge, huge world. It’s somewhat challenging to grasp the scale of it. I mean, there are just thousands of people working on this series. So the minute you sign on, you’re like, whoa, you’re on this ride, and you just got to hold on and go for it, and yeah, it was great. It’s really, really fun to be a part of it.
Jack: Can you tell us a bit more about your character of Bayta Mallow? What was it like becoming her in Foundation?
Synnøve: Bayta Mallow is sort of like an intergalactic influencer. She’s one of the most famous people in the whole galaxy, along with her husband Torran (Cody Fern). They’re kind of, yeah, influencers, celebrities unfazed by politics, yeah, and I’d say, as the season goes on, she gets drawn into this massive conflict that’s going on, kind of without realising, and she’s a fascinating character.
Synnøve: She’s a bit of a dark horse, and I’m very excited for people to learn more about her as the series unfolds. I guess we have the Foundation Season 3 Finale, which many people are looking forward to.
Married Life in Foundation Season 3
Jack: Given the story, you get a lot of scenes with Cody Fern as Toran Mallow – what was it like working with Cody?
Synnøve: Cody is a really passionate person. He cares a lot about his character and, yeah, he’s very hard-working, very driven, and he was, yeah, a fun person to play alongside, definitely, yeah, fantastic.
Jack: You get to act on some fantastic sets, but also you and Cody Fern have the joy of being onboard your very own starship, which looks rather fancy. Can you tell us more about acting on that set?
Synnøve: That was incredible, I think. I remember the first time I arrived at the studio; they took me to the bathroom, and then we went in via one of the sound studios. Somebody said, ‘Oh, by the way, that’s your spaceship.’ So I was like, oh my God, sort of obviously you know conceptually that you have a spaceship, but you don’t expect to go into this like huge, like studio space and see this giant spaceship. So that was a very fun day, and it’s very fun. Usually, you’re a character you’re figuring out, like how you inhabit your space and your world, that you exist in your home or your apartment or whatever it is.
Synnøve: So coming to work and kind of it’s become sort of feeling at home on a spaceship is um was definitely a new challenge and a new um, yeah, a new kind of I don’t know part of my character development, but um, very fun very nice.
Jack: I think it was either Cody or Tómas Lemarquis who said to us that it had like a working ice machine on it or something, the set for the ship, which sounds amazing for like a set!
Synnøve: So there’s a bar. You’ll see it in some of the early episodes. We’ve got like an AI in the ship called “Sweetheart”, and “Sweetheart” basically controls like all of the functions on the starship. So, you ask your sweetheart to make you a drink, and then this beautiful bar will open at the back and craft a particular cocktail with a specially shaped ice ball, along with the garnish of your choice. So that was very cool. We spent most of the first day, like many others, trying to get it working, and it was amazing when it finally did.
🚨 SPOILER WARNING 🚨 – This Interview will contain spoilers for Foundation Season 3 & the Season Finale!
Foundation Season 3 Finale’s Big Reveal
Jack: We’ve been permitted to ask about “that reveal” in the Foundation Season 3 Finale, can you tell us about that?
Synnøve: Yeah, my favourite scene to shoot was the well, first of all, some of the scenes in the medical crèche with Dawn (Cassian Bilton), because it felt like finally I was allowed to, like, let a bit of the real Beyta out. And then my favourite scene to film was the mule reveal, basically coming in and revealing who she really is, just because it felt like I’ve been holding on to this thing for like the whole of the shoot, and I was finally able to let it out, which was so cathartic, um.
Jack: So I think that was definitely my favourite. I think my jaw was on the floor the whole time. I was like, I did not see this coming, because I think a lot of people have been speculating about a twist based on the books and such, so yeah, it’s nice to have that uh expectation subverted in a way.
Synnøve: I mean, I was worried. I was like, people are gonna hate you because you’re, you know, like you know, you’ve taken the show down this different path. I think it’s a really great twist, and I think that’s what’s so entertaining about it, really, and it’s nice that it’s different from the book, definitely.
Jack: I feel like it subverts those expectations again because book readers are like Oh, it’s going to go this way and everyone’s looking at the wrong character.
Synnøve: That’s good, I’ve seen some speculation of people going maybe. So I’ve been sent a few, yeah, a few people speculating on Reddit, which has been quite entertaining. The fan base is amazing. They seem so passionate about it and, yeah, it’s just so, so fun being a part of something like that as well, where people are really invested. You know, off the back of these fantastic books as well, it’s like the history of this story is so run so deep in so many ways, so it’s just great when you see that kind of support, and you know, people being their own little detectives online.
Jack: I’ve got to ask, what has it been like seeing the fans react to you being in the Foundation, compared to other shows and such you’ve been in? Has it been different, more welcoming?
Synnøve: Really welcoming. I’ve had such a nice response from people, which is very exciting. We’ll see on Friday what the response is to the Foundation Season 3 Finale. I’m very excited, and the response so far has been tremendous. I feel fortunate to be a part of this fantastic show.
Jack: Synnøve, thank you so much for speaking with us today!
Conclusion
Foundation is created for AppleTV+ by David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman. Goyer serves as executive producer, with Bill Bost, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Matt Thunell, Robyn Asimov, David Kob, Christopher J. Byrne, Leigh Dana Jackson, Jane Espenson and Roxann Dawson also serving as executive producers.
The complete first, second and third seasons of “Foundation” are now streaming globally on Apple TV+. The Apple Original drama is produced for Apple TV+ by Skydance Media, not Skydance Television. Apple TV+ renewed Foundation for a fourth season on September 11, 2025.
This Interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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