Pantheon (TV series)

Pantheon
Genre	Animated drama Science fiction
Created by	Craig Silverstein
Based on	The Short Stories by Ken Liu
Voices of	Katie Chang Paul Dano Aaron Eckhart Rosemarie DeWitt Chris Diamantopoulos Raza Jaffrey Daniel Dae Kim Ron Livingston Taylor Schilling
Music by	Marco Beltrami Brandon Roberts Buck Sanders
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	6
Production
Executive producers	Chris Prynoski Shannon Prynoski Antonio Canobbio Ben Kalina Juno Lee Craig Silverstein
Editors	Jocelyn Barkenhagen Megan Love Marco Vera
Running time	40–41 minutes
Production companies	Sesfonstein Productions Titmouse, Inc. AMC Studios
Original release
Network	AMC+
Release	September 1, 2022 (2022-09-01) – present (present)

Pantheon is an American animated drama television series created by Craig Silverstein. The series is based on a series of short stories by Ken Liu in The Apocalypse Triptych. The series premiered on September 1, 2022 on AMC+.

Premise

In 2001, genius visionary Stephen Holstrom and founder of Logorhythms, a technological corporation, speaks about his mission to reach digital immortality with the advancement "Uploaded Intelligence" or "UI," - scanning the human brain and uploading it on the Cloud. Years later, after Holstrom's death, Logorythms continues his project, using various illegal and unethical means to reach their goals.

Shaken by the death of her beloved father's two years prior, Madison "Maddie" Kim is a bullied teen who receives mysterious help from someone online, who is soon thereafter revealed to be her deceased father, David Kim. David explains that his consciousness has been successfully uploaded to Logorhythms' cloud following an experimental and destructive brain scan, and that Logorythms lied to his family about the results. Wanting to save her father, Maddie seeks help from others and eventually gains custody of her father's U.I., but the Kim family is still facing danger from Logorythms.

At the same time, Caspian Keyes, a troubled yet highly intelligent teenage boy is embroiled in his own intrigue involving Logorythms. Since birth, Caspian's life has been a lie, raised unaware that he is in a constructed environment and constantly monitored by Logorythms, to one day fulfill a specific purpose. Through a chatroom, Caspian comes into contact with Maddie and the two aid each other in searching for the truth, which also helps Caspian gradually learn the truth about his reality.

Vinod Chanda, an engineer from the India-based Alliance Telecom company, wishes to use U.I. technology to usher in a digital utopia. After meeting with a rival company, Chanda's corrupt boss has him kidnapped and reveals that Alliance Telecom has secretly been conducting U.I. experiments, and Chanda himself is scanned, resulting in his death in the real world with his U.I. uploaded to perform menial tasks within Alliance's systems. With help from previous U.I. victims, Chanda escapes his virtual prison and becomes a rogue wildcard.

With Maddie and Caspian stuck in the middle, a global conspiracy unfolds that threatens to trigger a new kind of world war.

Cast and characters

Main

• Katie Chang as Maddie, a withdrawn, shy, and strong-willed high school girl. Maddie has an affinity for technology and was taught Computer programming by her father. Smart and determined, Maddie displays a lot of bravery as she gets entangled in a large conspiracy.
• Paul Dano as Caspian, a 17-year-old sullen yet kind teenager. A computer science genius, Caspian has unknowingly been raised as special Logorhythms operation for the purpose of being the "key" to Holstrom's U.I legacy.
• Daniel Dae Kim as David, Maddie's loving, altruistic father and a programming genius. Afflicted with a terminal illness at age 43, David agreed to Logorhythms's U.I. procedure to preserve his mind. With help from his family and Laurie, he was able to escape Logorhythms.
• Rosemarie DeWitt as Ellen, Maddie's protective and down-to-earth mother, and a college history professor.
• Aaron Eckhart as Cary, Caspian's father and a secret agent of Logorhythms, having worked closely with Holstrom before his death. While he plays the role of an abusive husband, Cary genuinely cares for the boy and wants to protect him.
• Chris Diamantopoulos as Pope, current CEO of Logorhythms, who is seeking to realize the dreams of his best friend, Holstrom.
• Raza Jaffrey as Chanda, a brilliant and humble engineer from Alliance Telecom who has interest in U.I. After being killed and forcefully uploaded as an U.I. by Prasad, Chanda was able to escape his cage and become the third rogue U.I.
• Ron Livingston as Waxman, a Logorhythms employee and part of the Julius's inner circle. An old friend to David Kim, he was the one who recruited David to help them with their U.I. research.
• Taylor Schilling as Renee, Caspian's mother, a secret agent of Logorhythms, and Holstrom's former lover. While she acts as a timid and caring mother, Renee coldly sees her son as an assignment.

Co-starring

• Heather Lind as Laurie, a former 31-year-old investment manager on Wall Street. After a car crash three years prior left her in critical condition, she underwent Logorhythms's I.U. procedure and was then used for her marketing talent. Laurie is the first U.I. to escape Logorythims's servers and became allies with Maddie and her family.
• Scoot McNairy as Cody, an artist and Laurie's husband. Despite previously being lied to by Logorhythms that Laurie's I.U. procedure was a failure, Cody eventually reunites with his wife and they work together with the Kim family.
• Krystina Alabado as Hannah, Nicole
• Kevin Durand as Anssi, Chauffuer, Manager
• Grey Griffin as Erin, Ms. Hunter, Assistant, Samara
• Michael Kelly as CEO, Van Leuwen
• Anika Noni Rose as Nicole, Side-Pony
• Samuel Roukin as Gabe, Ellen's kind and gentle co-worker who became her boyfriend after David's death.
• Odeya Rush as Samara, a popular girl at Berkshire Academy and the ringleader of Maddie's bullies.
• William Hurt as Stephen Holstrom, the deceased founder of Logorhythms and a legendary genius billionaire. Although he died before perfecting uploaded intelligence, his loyal followers carry on his work.
• Laura Meakin as Alon Aboutboul
• SungWon Cho as Teacher
• Maude Apatow as Justine, a blunt and somewhat apathetic student at Berkshire Academy that Maddie befriends.
• Nyima Funk as Deirdre Ryan, an Logorhythms employee and part of the Julius's inner circle.
• Ajay Mehta as Prasad, the corrupted CEO of Alliance Telecom, a rival company to Logorhythms, and Chanda's boss.
• Corey Stoll
• Lara Pulver

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"Pantheon"	Dwooman	Craig Silverstein	September 1, 2022 (2022-09-01)
In Sacramento, Maddie Kim struggles with her grief of losing her father David, who died two years ago, a strained relationship with her mother Ellen, and being bullied by a group of girls. One day, Maddie is contacted by a unknown user who communicates only in emojis. The next day, the unknown user hacked into the phones of Maddie's bullies and turn them against each other. Ellen discovers Maddie chatting with the unknow user, who send an emoji line of Edna St. Vincent Millay's "What lips my lips have kissed and where and why". Recognizing David's favorite poem, Ellen calls Peter Waxman, an employee of tech-company Logorhythms and friend to David, and demands answers about her husband. Waxman informs his boss, Julius Pope, of the situation and to cut off David's network access. At San Clemente, Caspian briefly meets a friendly new student, Hannah. Under their usernames, "Gage" and "valkyrie1284" respectively, Caspian contact Maddie, who overheard Ellen's phone call and posted message online about Logorhythms holding her father hostage. Caspian send Maddie's chatlog images to a user named "AngryAngel", asking if they are Maddie's unknown user. Unknown to Caspian, his parents are secret Logorhythms agents, keeping a charade of an abusive father and mousy mother, and that Logorhythms is spying on his computer activity. Computer engineer Vinod Chanda has a business meeting with rivals about “Uploaded Intelligence” and is promptly kidnapped afterwards. Later, "AngryAngel" contact Maddie and promises to help her get David back. Soon after Logorhythms suffers at major DDoS attack, which Pope ordering Waxman to check on woman named "Lowell".
2	"Cycles"	Mel Zwyer	Albert Kim	September 1, 2022 (2022-09-01)
Ellen explains to Maddie that David signed up to try Logorhythms' U.I project, which he also briefly worked on, after falling ill. As the procedure is dangerous and experimental, Ellen was told that David's U.I failed to upload properly. Ellen realize that Logorhythms lied to her and that they must have some of David's data. Maddie and Caspian continue to converse online, with Caspian informing her about the DDoS attack and Maddie asking him about U.I. "AngryAngel" intercepts Maddie, warning her to stop talking to Caspian because he's being watched and set up a meeting at Lone Pine Mall. As Caspian grows closer to Hannah, his parents and Pope are inform of his interactions with Maddie, though Pope orders them not to do anything it for now. Keeping "AngryAngel" a secret from Ellen, Maddie meets Cody Lowell, husband of the reportedly dead Laurie Lowell. Cody explains that Laurie became a U.I after a car crash, that she broke out of her virtual prison, and is responsible for the DDoS attack. Waxman claims to Ellen that Logorhythms only has a portion of David's U.I, which she demands they completely delete or she'll go to the press. At Logorhythms building, Pope refuses to delete David's data and will fight against lawsuit or bad publicity. Using a special bracelet the Lowells gave her, Maddie and Laurie hack Logorhythms and shut down all their systems, costing them millions in profit per second. Maddie demands Pope give her David's U.I, which Pope concedes and let the Kim family walk out unharmed. Syncing David's U.I with her computer, David is now free in the open internet and calls his family via Maddie's phone. In an medical facility, Chanda finds his boss, Ajit Prasad, learned of his meeting with competitors, and is forcefully turn into U.I as punishment. Note: The episode is dedicated to William Hurt who died on March 13, 2022.
3	"Reign of Winter"	Ed Tadem	Taii K. Austin	September 8, 2022 (2022-09-08)
After becoming a U.I, Chanda is stuck loop, without any memories of his physical death in the real world. While conference, Prasad and Pope talks about U.I and Prasad offers a joint venture, but Pope didn't agree. After a couple of loops, Chanda meets Prasad's failed U.I victims and help him regain his memories. They teach Chanda about their U.I capabilities, allowing him to escape without alarming Prasad and his cohorts. Maddie and David spend time together playing their favorite video game "Reign of Winter". Ellen refuses to speak to David, unable to accept his U.I existence and having move on with another man, Gabe. After Maddie and David's separate attempts to get her attention, Ellen finally speaks to David and they agreed they can't be together romantically, but remain close friends. Caspian researches Logorhythms and its founder, Stephen Holstrom, and discovers a black site in Norway. However, Logorhythms deletes any the photos before Caspian could save any evidence. Due Caspian being at an important peak of his adolescence, his parents Cary and Renee staged a scenario where Cary breaks Renee's arm. Caspian beats Cary up in rage, who walks out of them and then reports to Pope before breaking down in tears. Later, Caspian enters a romantic relationship with Hannah.
4	"The Gods Will Not Be Chained"	Micah Gunnell Juno Lee	Andy Parker	September 15, 2022 (2022-09-15)
At Prasad's home, Chanda gets revenge on Prasad by setting it on fire, killing Prasad and his family. Pope and Waxman learns of Prasad's death via news and suspect that Prasad’s U.I project may be part of it. While Caspian begins earning money to support himself and Renee, Cary debriefs with his coworkers about Caspian looking into Logorhythms and worries him about being stuck with Renee. Wanting know more David's current existence, Maddie learns that he's stuck in a virtual cage that his data still contains. Laurie suddenly arrives and attacks David, pushing Maddie out of the system. Desperate to find Laurie, Maddie contacts Caspian and, using random phones to prevent being spy on, and two exchanges their real names. The teens trade information about Laurie being "AngryAngel" and Caspian questions if U.I has anything to do with Maddie's predicament, but Maddie is unable to answer and only warns Caspian that he's being watched by Logorhythms. Cody shows up to Maddie's home, unable to reach Laurie too, and talks about his relationship with her. In David's cyberspace, Laurie tells that there's a flaw in her coding that erodes her mind the more she use her processing power. Laurie wants David to fix her and trains him to utilize his U.I power, allowing him to break out his cage. David and Laurie contacts Maddie and Cody, notifying that David also has the same virus as Laurie. After finding Logorhythms chips in his electronics, Caspian eavesdrops on Renee privately speaking with Hannah, who Caspian confided in earlier, and learns that both of them are part of the conspiracy.
5	"Zero Daze"	Mel Zwyer	Julia Cooperman	September 22, 2022 (2022-09-22)
With all of Alliance Telecom systems down, Pope and Waxman learns of Chanda's U.I existence, but unable to anything about him since Alliance Telecom refuses to collaborate. Chanda calls his mother, expressing feeling lost without a purpose. Caspian pressures Hannah to tell him the truth - her real name is Rachel Brooks, an actor hired by a shell company for a social experiment. Caspian promises not to get her in trouble and gets her help in fooling Renee. Using hidden cameras, Caspian sees Renee being inform that Cary has gone rogue. When Renee takes Caspian on a "trip", he hijacks the car and returns home to find Cary. Cary reveals that Caspian is a clone of Holstrom and that Logorhythms has been grooming Caspian to fix the natural flaw that degrades U.I's stability. After Renee returns, she non-fatally shoots Cary, but is unable to stop Caspian and Cary from leaving. After Logorhythms manages to locate and destroy David's servers, Maddie's group has Cody buy new servers and store them in the basement. While dodging Logorhythms' attempts to track them, David and Laurie hacks into the Norway site and steals secret files. They learn about Chanda and Caspian, with David believing Caspian will be able to help them.
6	"You Must Be Caspian"	Mel Zwyer	Scott Gunnison Miller	September 29, 2022 (2022-09-29)
Unable to go to any hospitals, Caspian reach out to Maddie to help Cary, leaving him with Cody to take him to a hospital. While Pope speaks to Van Leuwen, he is informed of Cary's location. With both parties of wary of each other, Caspian is unwilling to help Maddie's group and tries to process his existential crisis by watching his project files. Overwhelmed by the videos, Caspian and Maddie bonds over their crazy lives. Open to meet David and Laurie, Caspian takes a look at their code and notice the flaw in a memory problem. Meanwhile, Chanda plans to create a virtual space when he finds that Laurie, who has been glitching more frequently, calls his mother in an effort to reach out him. Interrupting their conversation with Caspian, Chanda speaks with David and Laurie. Chanda is livid to learn about the design flaw and has no faith that Caspian can solve it. Chanda reveals that he send U.I blueprints to many global institutes in hopes to have more U.Is and guide them. Pressured by the news of an arms race, Caspian leaves Maddie's house, determine to live his own life before the world blows itself up.
7	"We Are You"	Unknown	Michael Taylor	October 6, 2022 (2022-10-06)
8	"The Gods Will Not Be Slain"	Unknown	Craig Silverstein	October 13, 2022 (2022-10-13)

Production

Development

On August 3, 2018, it was reported that AMC opened a writer rooms 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 hourlong 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", and "The Gods Have Not Died in Vain" published in The Apocalypse Triptych.

A second season was in production by August 2022.

Casting

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.

Release

The series premiered on September 1, 2022 on AMC+ and HIDIVE. The first episode is available for all viewers on HIDIVE and on AMC+ official Youtube.

Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a 100% approval rating based on 14 critic reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. 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".

External links

• Pantheon AMC Studios
• Pantheon at IMDb