Love and hate in 'Foundation' Season 3: Emmy-winner Cherry Jones spills the tea on her on-screen relationship (exclusive)

Emmy Award-winning actress Cherry Jones is known for her signature work on iconic TV shows like "The West Wing" and "24," but her most recent performance has been in Apple TV+'s future galaxy of "Foundation."

Here in Season 3, the accomplished thespian portrays Ambassador Felice Quent, a Foundation liaison and diplomat assigned to the Galactic Empire's palace on Trantor to quell any political brushfires that might erupt during the Cleonic Dynasty's inevitable downfall as predicted by Hari Seldon's psychohistory calculations. She's also a romantic interest to Terrance Mann's aging Brother Dusk and acts as close counsel to the increasingly mad despot as his "ascension" grows near.

"I had not been into sci-fi and so when I got the script I thought it was fantastic," Jones tells Space.com. "It's so huge, but it all boils down to this man and his followers who are trying to save humanity from 30,000 years of darkness and reducing it to a mere 1,000 years of darkness. And I thought, 'Sign me up!' I want to know who these people are and how and why they're willing to risk everything. Walking into those sets, you felt like it's your first job, not out of nervousness but out of awe. It looks like they had a billion dollars for every single episode."

Spoilers for "Foundation" Season 3 ahead!

We connected with Jones prior to "Foundation's" Season 3 finale when Brother Dusk trashes the cloning tanks, melts Demerzel, and makes the rash decision to unleash the Novacula black hole weapon on three planets whose leaders were forcing him to forfeit himself and Trantor to The Mule. Before Quent's admonishment of Dusk's genocidal actions, killing billions of people, a sweet “age-appropriate” love scene ensues.

"I would love to have a little trip through Asimov's neurons to figure out how in the world he came up with this thing," she adds. "I feel the same way about the writers of the series because of the way they managed to make it a doable story by cloning. It's just incredible. I'm like a little fangirl now about it all. Being a newbie to sci-fi, this is a great way to start.

"There's not a lot of background with Quent. I imagine most people are thinking, 'Now who is Quent? What's she doing there?' It becomes a lot clearer in the last few episodes. My little Quent role I found fascinating as an actor to work on, because it's about someone who leaves their home and goes to a foreign hostile land and spends the rest of their life there, remaining completely loyal to their mission for the Foundation."

Having grown up with Mann's Brother Dusk, there's a natural chemistry that's evolved over the years between the pair, which culminates with a tender "age-appropriate" sex scene in Episode 7, "Foundation’s End."

"I can tell you, I was grateful it was age-appropriate, and not age-inappropriate," Jones jokes. "I don’t know how you feel about it, but I don’t need a bunch of old people 'doing it.' We had to talk to the intimacy coordinator about that scene, and Terry and I both sat down and looked at her and said, 'We're good. We've got this.' The other thing about Terry is that he's a brilliant dancer. He's a musical theater guy. One of the few things that were cut was him sweeping me around, and suddenly I was dancing with Fred Astaire, the way he'd move me and take me to the bed. He made me feel like this young lass, and he is truly one of the great gentlemen of the world, and it was a lot of fun."

All episodes of "Foundation" Season 3 are now streaming on Apple TV+. You can watch all your favorite sci-fi shows for less with our streaming deals guide.