It was important for Cody Fern to find the humanity in Toron’s arc in Foundation season 3, otherwise he might have skipped the show entirely. A recurring figure in Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story franchise as well as an effective performer in shows like House of Cards and Eden, Fern had been intending to take a break from acting to focus on his directorial work when a role in Apple TV+’s Foundation came across his desk.

In the series, Fern plays Toran Mallow. Newly married to Byta, the couple brings a surprisingly modern perspective to the expansive sci-fi adaptation. During an interview with TVBrittanyF, Cody Fern spoke about the challenges and thrills of stepping into the world of Foundation, the biggest lessons he learned from David S. Goyer, and how he brought so much of himself into the character.

RELATED: High Potential star Matthew Lamb talks season 2, stage roles and career goals

TVBrittanyF: It’s always interesting for me when actors jump into ongoing shows — but particularly in this case, with such a complicated series like Foundation, how did you even get on board? What was your process to jumping in and figuring out what was going on?

I’d taken a break from acting, and I didn’t know how long it was going to be or if I wanted to do anything for a long period of time. I was thinking of transitioning into directing, and David S. Goyer got in touch, and it’s David Goyer — I’ve loved his work, and he’s got such a fascinating mind. The process was very quick. I really was not going to say yes. I really didn’t want to. Not because I didn’t like the show or didn’t like the book, I hadn’t even read what In had been sent.

I had said to myself, ‘I’m taking my break. I’m moving into something else.’ But then, as soon as I read the scripts and the breakdown of Turin, I was fascinated. I wouldn’t say I’m a sci-fi nerd, so the math and science were all that was interesting to me, but it is now what my heart is. It’s really about reading who Toran was. That was an instant in for me. This was something very engaging and very exciting, somebody who acts as a counterpoint to these intergalactic stakes that are going on. It’s something very human and very real, and it was something that I could really have fun with. Once I went through the process with David, I was like,’ There’s no way I’m not doing this.’

They’ve already put you and Turin through the ringer this season. What’s been the biggest challenge for you as an actor?

The emotional stakes are huge. There are many things that happen in the series. I have to go through some extreme emotions. For me, I would say that the hardest thing was calibrating the knowledge of who Toran is on a much deeper level, and always making sure there’s somewhere to go with that.

When we meet him in the series, we should really feel like Toran seems surface-level and vapid, and narcissistic. He’s frivolous. Then, charting the course from somebody who seems to be that way, but episode by episode, scene by scene, his depth is revealed, peeling back all of the layers until you get to see who Toran really is… Something even truer within him that he didn’t fully comprehend himself.

I would say that was the biggest challenge. He’s playing a role. When you see the first couple of episodes, he’s really playing a role. He’s playing a role for people all the time. He’s performing, and he’s performing because it works and because people buy it. In Torren’s mind, everybody is seeing him as frivolous and vapid.

But actually, they’re the vapid ones. They accept only what’s on the surface, and he just capitalizes on that. The fun thing is, there are so many layers to this show and the plot. I joke that I have to go back to Wikipedia every week and double-check facts to make sure that I understand who did what and where.

You’re a veteran of working with Ryan Murphy, who is also known for throwing in tons of plot twists. So did any of your previous experience help you on this show?

For this series, I approached it very differently from anything I’ve done before. I went into this saying that I needed to have fun, you know? If I wasn’t going to be having fun, I wasn’t going to do it. I really committed to that, and I just had a blast. I knew the full scope of the story going into it. There were no surprises for me, per se. It wasn’t like I was on set and I was like, ‘Oh, now this is going to happen.’

Working in Ryan’s world, one day to the next, your character might entirely change. You don’t know who you are, you don’t know where you are, you don’t know why they’re doing this. That’s a part of the fun of working in that world, you’re just constantly jumping off cliffs and trusting that somebody else is going to catch you.

Whereas [with Foundation] I always had David Goyer’s writing and all the other incredible writers on this show, people like Jane Espen and Tyler Holmes. I always had this foundation, forgive the pun, to fall back into. I got to go as far as I possibly could with Toran. It was like, how far can we take this? How much fun can we have with this guy? How much can we shake up Foundation?

RELATED: Reese Antoinette relishes her role in Dexter: Resurrection

As someone who is not just an actor but a creator as well, what was the most rewarding element of this experience that you discovered? Just on a personal level, what has inspired you from your time on Foundation?

I like the ethic, it’s really interesting. I loved working with the crew. I loved working in Prague. I really, really, really, really enjoyed working with my partner, Sonova, who plays Beta. That was a really fun time. In terms of being a creator, it was fascinating to work with David, because he’s able to process so many different things in his mind at once and remain calm and composed and compassionate and generous in who he is as a person.

We’re very good friends now, and I find him and the way that he’s able to articulate creative ideas extremely exciting. There’s a practicality to them, even though they’re so layered and complex. I guess that comes with experience, but it also comes from a commitment to a kind of originality.

Is there anything that people may overlook about Toran and your experience on the Foundation?

I’m happy for people to project onto Toran, but whatever they want to project onto Toran, I, for the most part, want to avoid any discourse or anything around it. What I realized is that as an actor in the moment, what you have is the process. The process is fun, but the moment that the character is seen on television, you no longer have the floor. It’s not yours. People are projecting things onto you and how you’re feeling and what you’re doing.

You have receivers and people who want to give their opinions about things. For me, my mindset has always been like, well, I’m in the arena and you’re in the stands. I think that’s how Toran also feels. That was something I really wanted to bring to Toran. All these people are judging Toran and looking down on Toran, and they think they have the upper hand. But Toran’s in the arena. He’s doing the damn thing. I love that about him.

Foundation is now streaming on Apple TV+