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After changing streamers several times, what would become one of the best sci-fi dramas was eventually acquired by Netflix a few years ago, and to this day, it deserves more than one watch. Created by Craig Silverstein, who also executive-produced, Pantheon is widely regarded as a hidden sci-fi gem ahead of its time, with gripping storytelling that keeps viewers hooked from start to finish.
The animated series ran for two seasons and 16 episodes, with the first eight airing on AMC+ and the second eight—Season 2—released on Amazon Prime Video in select regions before eventually being picked up by Netflix. Based on stories from the short story collection The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by award-winning sci-fi and fantasy author Ken Liu, Pantheon brings Liu's ideas about uploaded consciousness, AI, and transhumanism to the screen. It was an instant critics' favorite upon its 2022 premiere, boasting a perfect 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but that wasn't enough to prevent it from being prematurely canceled. Still, thanks to Netflix, it eventually found a second life and was introduced to a much wider audience, quickly proving itself as the perfect weekend binge. Related Collider Acrostic — The Collider TV Quiz! Can you answer these television questions, wherein each correct response begins with a successive letter of the word"Collider"? Posts 1 By Macklen Makhloghi What Is 'Pantheon' About? Pantheon isn't just your typical animation; it is ambitious, as you can imagine, right from the start. After an eerie opening sequence in which a string of code smashes through a Greek statue, the show cuts to a high school classroom, where a teacher's voice drones on about Greek mythology. A voiceover is then heard saying,"Most of the girls in my class completely missed the moment when the world began to end. Too wrapped up in their own drama, obsessed with their own lives, or trying to ruin mine." That blunt voice belongs to 14-year-old outcast Maddie Kim , who's at the center of Pantheon, still grieving over the death of her father David two years prior. David's passing plays a primary role in Maddie's navigation of a world where technology doesn't just change lives—it controls them. The drama wastes no time in introducing this overwhelming world through her grief, as in Episode 1, Maddie discovers that her father—or rather parts of him—lived on. This is where UI, or uploaded intelligence, comes in: an AI variant referring to digitized human consciousness. In Pantheon, a person's mind can be scanned and uploaded onto a computer network, allowing it to live on digitally—interacting with other UIs or even shaping the physical world through technology. It's the show's core sci-fi concept, blurring the line between human identity and digital existence, while forcing viewers to confront big questions about mortality, ethics, and what it truly means to live when your mind can survive without a body. Paired with this strikingly bold premise is an all-star cast,including profoundly human performances from Chang, Kim, and Rosemarie DeWitt, who make up the Kim family. The late William Hurt also appears in one of his final performances, providing a steady voice to Stephen Holstrom, a character modeled after Ray Kurzweil and Steve Jobs. Other stars whose voices you may recognize in the sci-fi gem are Taylor Schilling, Aaron Eckhart, Raza Jaffrey, Scoot McNairy, Ron Livingston, Maude Apatow, and Anika Noni Rose, all bringing that extra spark of emotion to characters that keep the show's sprawling world grounded in something realistic. 'Pantheon' Is the Perfect Weekend Binge You're Missing Despite the bias against animated productions, Pantheon was a hit among critics and viewers, as reflected in its Rotten Tomatoes score. With a laudable 100% critics' rating on the review aggregator website , the series proved that animated sci-fi can deliver the same emotional weight, complex storytelling, and high-stakes tension as any large-scale production. On top of that, seventeen glowing reviews praise the show's animation, voice acting, emotional and philosophical depth, as well as its portrayal of technological singularity. Similarly, Pantheon's audience score is impressive, at 95% based on over 300 ratings. As AMC's first hour-long animated drama, Pantheon did amazingly well on release, so one would have expected it to have a solid future on the network. But it didn't! On March 10, 2020, AMC gave the sci-fi drama a two-season series order, consisting of eight episodes per season. Season 1 ran from September 1 to October 13, 2022, on AMC+, and a month before the premiere, Season 2 went into production. However, on January 8, 2023, AMC canceled Pantheon after one season and removed all eight episodes from the network's streaming service and HIDIVE. Thankfully, that wasn't the end of the series, as in September 2023, Amazon Prime Video announced it had picked up the series for release. The following month, Season 2 of Pantheon premiered on the streamer in Australia and New Zealand, after which Netflix acquired the entire show for international distribution, with Season 1 arriving in November 2024 and Season 2 in February 2025. Four years after its original premiere, Pantheon remains one of the smartest sci-fi shows demanding more than a single watch. It boasts a perfect rating, a brilliant ensemble cast, and masterful storytelling that keeps you glued through every pulse-pounding episode, making it the perfect binge for any weekend. Pantheon Like TV-14 Animation Drama Science Fiction 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 Cast See All
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