Contains spoilers for “Foundation” Season 3, Episode 2, “Shadows in the Math”

Isaac Asimov fans rejoice! Apple TV+’s imperial sci-fi drama “Foundation” is back on the air. Season 3 has started, not with a collapsing Empire-like whimper, but with a bang worthy of the upstart Foundation. After a premiere that dove deep into the shared philosophy of Asimov’s Robot and Empire universes (Zeroth Law, anyone?), Episode 2 dug deeper into the “Foundation” mythology by exploring the fledgling Second Foundation and its leader, the First Speaker.

The leader of the mentalic enclave is downplayed a bit on the show thus far, due to their living in the shadows of the larger-than-life Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) and Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell). In the books, though, both of those characters are long gone by this point in the story. In their wake, a string of peer-elected First Speakers play a critical role in moving the story forward by guiding the Second Foundation, protecting the First Foundation, and guarding the Seldon Plan.

With not one but two First Speakers popping up in Episode 2, let’s dig into the archives and take a look at this hallowed position in the Asimov universe, what it means to be a First Speaker, and how the position could influence the future of the show.

What is the First Speaker’s role, credentials, and responsibilities? In Isaac Asimov’s books, when Hari Seldon establishes the First Foundation on Terminus at the edge of the galaxy, he simultaneously sets up a secret Second Foundation. Unlike the show, where this group is located on the jungle-like planet of Ignis, the book version is hidden right in the Imperial capital itself, Trantor, where it stays even as the Empire collapses around it. By the era the show has now reached, the hidden Second Foundation is the only civilized area of the planet not in ruins.

Whether it’s on Ignis in the show or Trantor in the books, the Second Foundation is led in both cases by a First Speaker. On the surface, their job is straightforward. They must lead the scholarly community of mentalics (who were introduced at the end of Season 2) as they play guide and guardian to the Seldon Plan. The inheritors of psychohistory (Asimov’s fictional science of math, psychology, and history) are secretly tasked with keeping the plan on track, and their leader is the point person for that job.

To become a First Speaker, an initiate of the Second Foundation must not only be good at psychohistory, but so proficient that they actually contribute to Hari Seldon’s life’s work. After adding their own original contribution to the plan, a Second Foundationer can become a candidate for First Speaker. The initial First Speaker we meet in the show is Thalis (Sandra Guldberg Kampp), but she is quickly replaced through the unmerciful passage of cryo-accelerated time with Preem Palver (Troy Kotsur) — the original First Speaker we meet in the books.

While we’ve finally met the First Speaker — and Preem Palver, in particular — things are just getting started with the Second Foundation. With Hari Seldon already out of the way and only Gaal remaining of the original Foundation crew, we can expect to see the First Speakers begin to step into the vacuum moving forward. In the books, Preem Palver plays a critical role not just against the Mule but in keeping the First Foundation off the trail of the Second Foundation, which they see as a threat due to its secret, unexplained existence.

The First Speakers who are elected after Palver continue to work against the Mule as they labor to keep their enclave secret and the Seldon Plan on track. Their importance also goes beyond the current crisis. There is a critical moment (as far as the First Speaker is concerned) in Episode 2 that is easy to miss: When Hari shares his updated Prime Radiant (which houses all of his psychohistorical planning and findings) with Gaal, they look at yet another Seldon Crisis coming down the pike. This one is bigger and crazier than all the rest — and it doesn’t result from the Mule winning. It happens if he loses.

That mysterious future challenge — that unexplained branch in the timeline — is the biggest reveal in the entire “Foundation” story, one that makes the threat of the Mule look like small potatoes. And the First Speakers? They’ll be neck deep in the action if that future mathematical possibility ever becomes reality.