Summary
From The Expanse to Andor to The Twilight Zone, there are tons of great sci-fi shows out there for you to enjoy. But one of the best of the past quarter-century passed almost completely under the radar. Both seasons of Pantheon are now easily available to stream, but it might not always be that way, so it’s in your interest to mainline this modern sci-fi masterpiece while you can.
What is Pantheon about?
Prepare to have your brains scrambled
Pantheon is an animated series that aired its first season in 2022 on AMC+, which is the first clue as to why it never became more popular; so far as streaming services go, AMC+ is relatively small-time.
The show is set in the near future when two rival companies, Logorhythms and Alliance Telecom, are competing to perfect UI technology. In this case, “UI” does not stand for “user interface” but rather “uploaded intelligence.” The companies have devised a way to scan the human brain and then to rebuild it in digital form, effectively creating a new kind of person. The story kicks off when a teenager named Maddie (Katie Chang) gets a message from her father (Daniel Dae Kim), a Logorhythms programmer who died two years prior. But it’s not actually him; it’s a UI version of his consciousness.
That leads to all kinds of interesting dilemmas. Is Maddie’s father actually still her father, or is he a copy who happens to have his memories? How do you treat a being like that? What does it mean to live in a world where your ancestors can talk to you long after they’re dead? How does society accommodate these kinds of people? Are they even people? Are they citizens? Can they vote? Pantheon is interested in all of these questions and explores them in subtle and believable ways. The show is based on a short story by author Ken Liu, and the writers go out of their way to keep things feeling grounded and realistic.
That said, the UIs are bounded only by their imagination, so we also get to watch explosive battles fought between creatures who are essentially gods within the digital world. Pantheon will make you think, but it will thrill you, too.
Pantheon is a show for the 2020s
Science non-fiction?
Pantheon is obviously science fiction, but we’re getting to the point where some of its ideas feel uncomfortably plausible. We may not be able to upload human consciousness into the cloud yet, but billionaires are openly talking about a future where advances in technology make it possible to live forever. Billionaire Bryan Johnson, for example, wants to use his fortune to essentially stop the aging process.
It’s also hard not to think about the AI arms race when watching Pantheon. In our world, companies are competing with each other to advance AI technology, despite concerns about how that technology could disrupt society. In Pantheon, UI technology plays much the same role. The show is also realistic about how large corporations might abuse this tech. In Pantheon, the first UIs are essentially used as slave labor, with companies harnessing their skills while erasing their memories whenever they have questions about why they’re working non-stop. In our world, companies have broached the idea of AI agents basically replacing human workers, except AI agents don’t need sleep or food or money.
Pantheon also plays with the idea of big tech becoming a sort of religion, satirizing major industry figures like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. One plotline involves a young programming prodigy named Caspian Keyes (Paul Dano) who finds out his entire life has been manipulated by Logorhythms. And the manipulators feel justified in their actions because they believe so fervently in the corporate dream of tech utopia.
Pantheon is a slick, well-made show
With a star-studded cast
You may have noticed some big names being thrown around above, including Daneil Day Kim and Paul Dano. Pantheon also stars Rosemarie DeWitt and Oscar-winner William Hurt. For such a low-profile show, the voice talent is very impressive.
Pantheon also garnered praise for its animation, which is straight-forward and fluid. The scenes set in the real world are convincing, whereas the scenes set in the digital world get to be more wild and elaborate. The show is always interesting to look at.
Watch Pantheon while you can
AMC+ canceled Pantheon after its first season, when work on a second season was almost complete. Happily, Prime Video stepped in and saved the series…but only aired the second season for subscribers in Australia and New Zealand. The show never got the exposure it deserved.
At the moment, both seasons of Pantheon are available to stream on Netflix, which means it’s finally getting exposed to a much bigger audience. And while there are only two seasons, Pantheon tells a complete and finished story. There are no cliffhangers.
But depending on licensing and other factors, the series may not be on Netflix forever, so if you’re at all interested in watching this show, it’s probably a good idea to do it sooner rather than later.
- Release Date
- 2022 - 2023-00-00
- Network
- Prime Video, AMC+, HIDIVE
- Directors
- Melchior Zwyer, Ed Tadem, Micah Gunnell, David Dwooman Woo, Mari Yang
- Writers
- Michael Taylor, Scott Gunnison Miller