"Game of Thrones" alum Pilou Asbæk says he found inspiration for The Mule, the powerful villain he plays in "Foundation" Season 3, in an unexpected place.

Pilou Asbæk in a scene from "Foundation." Three seasons of the sci-fi series are now streaming and a fourth is in the works. Photo courtesy of Apple TV+ UPI Lee Pace attends the premiere of "Captain Marvel" in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles in 2019. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI UPI Jared Harris arrives for the SAG Awards held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles in 2020. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI UPI

NEW YORK, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Game of Thrones alum Pilou Asbæk says he found inspiration for The Mule, the powerful, mind-controlling villain he plays in Foundation Season 3, in an unexpected place.

"He's misunderstood, but, also, a man who needs to be loved, who's seeking love. If you read the books, he's one of the most iconic villains in the world," Asbæk told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.

"I was very inspired by The Little Prince, the French book [by Antoine de Saint-Exupery]. That's also the reason why I wanted to have the red cape -- because that's what he's wearing in the book," he explained.

"That's the story about a prince on a small planet with a rose trying to find out, 'What is human?' and that's very much what The Mule is about, trying to find out, 'Why am I so evil and why is the world so evil and why has no one ever truly loved me?'"

Foundation is the adaptation of Isaac Asimov's sci-fi novel series. Three seasons are now streaming on Apple TV+ and a fourth is already in the works.

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The show follows a group of scientists, led by Hari (Jared Harris) and Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell), who try to save humanity by rebuilding civilization called the Foundation on a remote planet amid the fall of the Galactic Empire, which is ruled by a genetic dynasty of three clones -- Lee Pace's Brother Day, Terrence Mann's Brother Dusk and Cassian Milton's Brother Dawn.

Asbæk said he usually plays the good guy in films and TV shows in his native Denmark, but is frequently cast as the big bad in big-budget, international productions.

"This is the champions league and I want to play in the champions league. I want to play with the best people in the world, with the best crews on the best shows because it's so much fun on this scale," Asbæk added.

"I always do the hero in Danish films. I'm always the main guy, the sweetheart of romantic comedies and then do these evil characters on these international big-budget films and TV shows. It is a dream coming true."

Although the Foundation and the Empire are always fighting for control on the show, Asbæk said The Mule doesn't take one side over the other.

"It's the same thing for him. He doesn't care. The world has never treated him well. The Foundation has never given him anything. The Empire has never given him anything except violence, a terrible childhood," Asbæk said.

"So, for him, he wants revenge and he wants to rule the world. All good villains always wants to be on top," he added. "No one is a villain in their own story."

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The actor said he is proud to be part of a project based on the work of a "founding father" of science-fiction.

"You couldn't say Star Wars, you couldn't say Star Trek, you couldn't say sci-fi without going back to Asimov," he said.

"So, you feel very privileged, but you also feel the weight on your shoulders because we are a different product," he added. "We are not the books. We are David S. Goyer's interpretation of the books and would you agree on everything? Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. It's a lot of books and a lot of pages that you need to create a TV show."