Pantheon (TV series)

Pantheon is an American adult animated science fiction drama television series created by Craig Silverstein. The series is based on a series of short stories by Ken Liu. The first season premiered on September 1, 2022, on AMC+. In January 2023, the first season was removed from AMC+ and HIDIVE; and re-released on Amazon Prime Video with the second season in Australia and New Zealand on October 15, 2023.
In 2001, Stephen Holstrom, a genius visionary and founder of the technology company Logorhythms, began his mission to reach digital immortality with the advancement of "Uploaded Intelligence" or "UI," - scanning the human brain and uploading it on the Cloud. After Holstrom's death, Logorythms continued his project, using various illegal and unethical means to reach their goals.
In the present day, Maddie Kim is a bullied teenager still grieving over the death of her father two years prior. She soon receives mysterious help from someone online, who is soon thereafter revealed to be her deceased father, David Kim, whose consciousness was uploaded to Logorhythms' cloud network following an experimental and destructive brain scan, with its success having been hidden from David's family.
At the same time, Caspian Keyes, a troubled yet highly intelligent teenager has been raised unaware that he lives in a constructed environment and is constantly monitored by Logorythms to one day fulfil a special purpose. Caspian comes into contact with Maddie and the two aid each other in searching for the truth, which also helps Caspian gradually learn about his reality.
Meanwhile, Vinod Chanda, an engineer from the India-based Alliance Telecom company is kidnapped by his corrupt boss and scanned, resulting in his death in the physical world with his UI uploaded to Alliance's systems. With help from previous UI victims, Chanda escapes his virtual prison and goes rogue.
With Maddie and Caspian stuck in the middle, a global conspiracy unfolds that threatens to trigger a new kind of world war.
On August 3, 2018, it was reported that AMC opened a writers room for the animated drama Pantheon. On March 10, 2020, AMC had given the production a 2-season series order consisting eight episodes each. Pantheon is AMC's first hour-long animated drama original series. The series is created by Craig Silverstein who also executive produced the series. AMC Studios and Titmouse, Inc. are involved with producing the series. The series is based on Ken Liu's short stories "The Gods Will Not Be Chained", "The Gods Will Not Be Slain", "The Gods Have Not Died in Vain", "Staying Behind", "Altogether Elsewhere, Vast Herds of Reindeer" and "Seven Birthdays" from the short fictions collection The Hidden Girl and Other Stories.
A second season was in production by August 2022. On January 8, 2023, AMC canceled the series after one season, despite a two-season order. It was also removed from AMC's streaming service and HIDIVE. In September 2023, Amazon Prime Video announced that it picked up the series for release.
On July 23, 2020, Taylor Schilling, Rosemarie DeWitt, Aaron Eckhart, and Paul Dano were cast in starring roles. On August 7, 2020, Daniel Dae Kim, Katie Chang, Ron Livingston, Chris Diamantopoulos, Raza Jaffrey, Scoot McNairy, Anika Noni Rose, Grey Griffin, SungWon Cho, Kevin Durand, Samuel Roukin, and Krystina Alabado joined the cast in starring roles. On February 18, 2021, William Hurt, Maude Apatow, Corey Stoll, and Lara Pulver were cast in starring roles.
The series premiered on September 1, 2022, on AMC+ and HIDIVE. The first episode was available for all viewers on HIDIVE and on AMC+ official YouTube. After its removal from AMC and HIDIVE platforms, Amazon Prime Video set a release date for the second season in Australia and New Zealand for October 15, 2023.
The series was acquired by Netflix for international distribution. The first season was released in November 2024 and the second in February 2025.
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a 100% approval rating based on 15 critic reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "A sophisticated treatise on consciousness and mortality, this absorbing mind-bender earns its own place in the pantheon of exemplary animated television." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 77 out of 100 based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".