Cleon (Foundation)
Cleon, commonly referred to by the metonym Empire, is the name of multiple fictional characters in the 2021 Apple TV+ television series Foundation. They are the Genetic Dynasty of clones who rule the Galactic Empire. In the series, the 12,000-year-old Empire has been ruled for 400 years by a revolving trio of Cleon I clones: Brother Day, a Cleon in his prime; Brother Dusk, a retired and aging Cleon who serves in an advisory role; and Brother Dawn, a young Cleon being trained to succeed Brother Day. The series is an adaptation of the Foundation series of novels by Isaac Asimov, and stars Lee Pace as Day, Terrence Mann as Dusk, and Cassian Bilton as Dawn. Cloning does not factor in Asimov's novels, though emperors named [|Cleon I and Cleon II] appear as supporting characters.
Character
Casting and reception
The trio of Cleon clones are portrayed by Lee Pace, Terrence Mann and Cassian Bilton in the 2021 Apple TV+ television series Foundation. Pace was cast in October 2019, and Mann and Bilton were cast in December 2019. Cooper Carter plays Brother Dawn as a child in season one.Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com described Pace's performance as "magnetic", and Chancellor Agard of Entertainment Weekly called it a "campy and playful turn". Sean O'Neal of Texas Monthly called Pace's performance "bombastic", and wrote, "Pace was simply born to play a tyrant. His Brother Day comes off like a cross between the Roman emperor Commodus and the Marquis de Sade, a narcissist with swept-back Bradley Cooper hair and a wicked smile that perpetually curls his lips. Pace imbues every line with aristocratic menace, all delivered in his stentorian, Shakespeare in the Park projection." James Dyer of Empire: "Pace brings both weight and humanity to the waning imperium... while placing a consistent face on the empire at the story's heart." Richard Edwards of Space.com wrote that Pace's performance has "too many echoes of his stern turns" in Guardians of the Galaxy and the Hobbit films. Early trailers for the series prompted online fans to refer to Pace as "Intergalactic Emperor Daddy". Chase Hutchinson of Collider wrote:
Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that "The interplay between Mann and Pace as imperious rulers has strong theatrical energy." Caroline Framke of Variety wrote that at times, "Pace and Mann tap into a shared, visceral disdain that betrays more personality than their respective Cleons would likely care to admit exists." Sean T. Collins of Decider described Mann's performance in "The Last Empress", in which Dusk experiences one shocking revelation after another, as "fascinating to watch", and wrote, "Mann's command of the diverse emotions and affects called for here, making them seem like the product of a single unquiet mind, is deeply impressive." Collins also described Bilton's Dawn as "seemingly aroused equally by the gorgeous Sareth's unabashed come-ons and their secret rebellion against his older bro."
Chaim Gartenberg of The Verge called the Genetic Dynasty "the show's highlight, thanks in no small part to Pace's dynamic performances". Agard explained, "This curious political unit raises interesting questions about individuality and if progress is possible without fundamental change, and it's the main source of fun in the show."
Description
In the 2021 television series adaptation Foundation, the 12,000-year-old Empire has been ruled for 400 years by a revolving triumvirate of Cleon I clones: Brother Day, a Cleon in his prime; Brother Dusk, a retired and aging Cleon who serves in an advisory role; and Brother Dawn, a young Cleon being trained to succeed Brother Day. Though cloning does not factor in Asimov's novels, the television series introduces a "Genetic Dynasty", surreptitiously administered for centuries by the regal Lady Demerzel, secretly a unique, ageless humanoid robot. The clones serve as "the personification of the Empire's permanency, constant and unchanging, ever-present and never-failing." In the story, the Imperial triad scoff at mathematician Hari Seldon's predictions of the Empire's imminent fall, and exile him from the capital world, Trantor, to the distant planet Terminus. But thanks to a devastating and unprecedented terrorist attack, their eyes are now opened to the signs that the Empire is indeed decaying.In season one, Dawn conceals his color blindness, an anomaly among the Cleons, from Day and Dusk. He and Day also exhibit signs of unprecedented emotions, making them less detached and cruel than their predecessors, which Dusk believes will spell their doom. It is eventually revealed that the rebel movement has tampered with the Cleon genetics, facing the current Day with the fact that the bloodline is now tainted and he, his successors, and likely a number of his predecessors have irrevocably diverged from the original Cleon. Dusk insists that Dawn, who was easily manipulated by the rebels, be destroyed, but Day shows compassion. Demerzel, however, recognizes the danger that Dawn now poses to the dynasty, and kills him.
In season two, a subsequent Day decides to halt the degradation of the bloodline by marrying the newly crowned Queen Sareth of Cloud Dominion and fathering an heir with her. Displeased, Demerzel feigns acceptance, but schemes to prevent the marriage and be rid of Sareth. Demerzel is revealed to be the real power behind the Imperial throne, guiding humanity on a millennial scale. The genetically corrupted Cleons increasingly veer from the path she has set for them, and she begins to act more overtly autonomous, thwarting their choices and actions, and even killing and replacing them with new copies as necessary to preserve her grand scheme for humanity.
Series executive producer David S. Goyer invented the clone emperors, who are not in Asimov's novels, as a way of providing some continuity to a story that takes place over a thousand years. O'Neal explained, "Pace's Brother Day is one of the few characters that we’re actually allowed to connect with", and described the character as "the smug embodiment of imperial hubris". Pace said of the Emperors, "On one side of their mind, they believe they're the same person. They actually believe this, and they believe that person is the Emperor of the galaxy... And on the other side of that mind, are a series of individuals who, whether they like it or not, are individuals." Daniel Bibby of Screen Rant called the conceit of the Genetic Dynasty "a well-executed concept that allows for a centuries-long chess match between Empire and Hari Seldon." Rafael Motamayor of IGN praised the idea of clone emperors as "arguably the most fascinating addition to the show, which helps it stand out from the rest of the sci-fi landscape."
Storyline
Season 1
In "The Emperor's Peace", Hari Seldon's predictions of the Galactic Empire's imminent fall, based on his science of psychohistory, are dismissed by Brothers Day, Dawn and Dusk, the trio of Emperor Cleon I clones who rule the Empire. Seldon is spared execution for treason after a devastating terrorist attack—the destruction of the Star Bridge, Trantor's space elevator—illustrates for Day that there is indeed decay within the Empire. Seldon and his followers are exiled to Terminus to establish the "Foundation", a repository of human knowledge that Seldon claims will shorten the dark age after the Empire's demise from thirty thousand years to a single millennium. In "Preparing to Live", the Empire investigates the Star Bridge attack but is unable to identify its mastermind, or conclusively attribute it to Seldon or the governments of Anacreon or Thespis. Despite Dusk urging that the detained delegations from the two kingdoms should be granted clemency, Day opts for a public execution of all delegates except the two ambassadors, simultaneous with orbital bombardments of their homeworlds. The Genetic Dynasty undertakes its next traditional transfer of power in "The Mathematician's Ghost": a new Dawn is decanted, the current Dawn is elevated to Day, the current Day retires as Dusk, and Dusk assumes the mantle of Brother Darkness before being euthanized.In "Barbarians at the Gate", a charismatic religious leader, Zephyr Halima Ifa, revives an orthodox, pre-Imperial dogma that asserts clones do not possess souls. This religious issue and a violent insurrection in the lower levels of Trantor fulfill two key portents of the Empire's decline that Seldon related at his trial. Day grows frustrated with Dusk, feeling his elder seeded these problems decades ago by acting impulsively and refusing to heed Seldon's warnings. While Day departs Trantor to intervene with Ifa, Dusk sends a fleet to visit the Foundation, which has fallen silent. In "Death and the Maiden", Day attempts to undermine Ifa on the holy moon at the center of the Luminist faith, but she gains the upper hand with a galvanizing speech that subtly criticizes Imperial cloning. On Trantor, Dawn pursues a romance with Azura Odili, a palace gardener, and bares his deepest secret: he inexplicably has minor genetic traits, such as color blindness, that differentiate him from all previous Cleon clones. Day is agitated by his inability to rein in the defiant Ifa in "Mysteries and Martyrs", but decides he can upstage her by undertaking Luminism's most sacred pilgrimage. Azura asks Dawn, who lives in constant fear of being replaced by another clone should his uniqueness be exposed, to consider running away with her.
In "The Missing Piece", Day completes the Spiral, a torturous trek to a desert cave pool, and claims to have received a vision of a sacred flower. The Zephyrs interpret Day's vision as a divine pronouncement that he has a soul, rendering any further criticism of Imperial cloning by a Luminist to be sacrilege, and nullifying any threat from Ifa. Day seals his victory by commanding Demerzel, his devoutly Luminist robot majordomo, to covertly assassinate Ifa. Day reflects on his experience in the cave, revealing he had no vision at all. Dawn realizes Dusk knows his secret and escapes the palace in "The First Crisis". He discovers that Azura is part of a rebel conspiracy which plans to replace him with a compliant duplicate. Dusk arrives with Imperial troops who dispatch the conspirators and their counterfeit Cleon. In "The Leap", Day tells Azura he has killed all of her relatives and everyone she has ever met, and that she will be shrouded for the rest of her life. Day decides to spare Dawn over Dusk's objections, but Demerzel sees the danger Dawn poses to the dynasty and kills him anyway, affirming that her loyalty to the Cleon dynasty supersedes Day's wishes. Day learns that the anti-Empire conspiracy has tainted the DNA of the entire Cleonic line, affecting all future generations.