![Humans, AI, AI-humans, and the Technological Singularity. Review of the animated series Pantheon [Backlog]](https://img.mezha.media/mezhaprod/images/doc/7/f/269277/7f703accf5edbacd89f20b750ea842de.jpeg?w=900&q=90&f=webp)
The first season of the animated series Pantheon was released back in 2022 on AMC+ and the little-known Hidive service, the second – in 2023 in a limited number of countries on Amazon Prime Video. And finally, only in February 2025, both seasons became available to viewers around the world on Netflix. In our opinion, Pantheon is one of the best fantasy series that discusses the problems of AI, humanity and the future coexistence of intelligences of different origins. And unfortunately, not many viewers know about this series, so we decided to talk about it now.
| Name | Pantheon |
| Genre | science fiction, animation |
| Creator | Craig Silverstein |
| The roles were voiced | Katie Chung, Paul Dano, Aaron Eckhart, Rosemary DeWitt, Chris Diamantopoulos, Raza Jaffrey, Danielle Dae Kim, Ron Livingston, Taylor Schilling and others |
| Channels | AMC+, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix |
| Episodes | 16 |
| Year | 2022 |
| Link | IMDb |
Pantheon is based on a series of short stories by Chinese-American science fiction writer Ken Liu. These are "The Gods Will Not Be Chained", "The Gods Will Not Be Slain", "The Gods Have Not Died in Vain", "Staying Behind" and "Altogether Elsewhere, Vast Herds of Reindeer" from the collection The Hidden Girl and Other Stories (2020).
Maddie Kim is a technologically gifted 14-year-old high school girl from Sacramento who doesn't get along well with her classmates and is still reeling from the death of her father two years ago. Caspian Keys is a reclusive 17-year-old tech genius from San Clemente who lives with a cruel father who bullies his son and wife. Vinod Chanda is a talented Indian engineer who dreams of success and tries to sell breakthrough technologies to several companies at once, but he himself becomes the target of a kidnapping. These three separate stories are tied into one intricate knot when an unknown person who uses only emoticons begins to communicate with Maddie. Very quickly, Maddie realizes that this is an artificial intelligence created based on the consciousness of her deceased father.
The idea of a uploaded consciousness is not new to science fiction. Almost immediately after the advent of the first computers in the 1940s and 1950s, science fiction writers tried to put a human personality into a machine, building in their stories supercomputers the size of a country that could hold the scanned layer by layer brain of a genius. The corresponding technology still does not exist, as well as computers capable of simulating the work of even a part of the human brain, but ... theoretically it is possible.
The main theme of Pantheon is precisely the uploaded consciousness, the personality that can exist in the cloud. But not only that. The main thing in the series is the realistically shown attitude of ordinary people towards such personalities, as well as their attitude towards humanity. A mixture of fear, insecurity, envy, misunderstanding, timidity and desire for change.
Interestingly, people's attitudes towards downloaded personalities change several times throughout the series. Even the main characters of the story change their minds several times, from complete denial to acceptance and denial again.
Pantheon asks interesting questions and seeks answers to them. Can a downloaded personality be considered the same person, a continuation of him in another form, or is it just a digital clone that has nothing to do with the one who died during the scanning process? Is it ethical to download a person in this way, both with his consent and without it? What rights does such a digital personality have? What responsibility? How will the emergence of downloaded personalities, as well as synthetic AI based on them, change humanity?
And of course, in Pantheon there was a place for a mad genius, who was clearly drawn from Steve Jobs, his fanatical supporters (there is even a character very similar to Steve Ballmer), a controlled environment, conspiracy theories, a global pandemic, a total blackout, ordinary citizens in search of simple solutions, special services and governments of different countries (the relationship between the downloaded individuals of Israel and Iran has "aged" nicely against the background of recent events)... And there is also MMORPG, virtual reality, tactile suits, robot avatars, technological singularity, theories of the multiverse and multilayer simulation, interstellar travel and even the Dyson Sphere.
Thanks to the living characters, whose emotions you sympathize with and whose emotions you believe in, the dynamics of their relationships and the generally strong script, Pantheon is not only a futuristic forecast for the next 40+ million years, but also an interesting story about family, relationships, and a very touching romantic story. Of course, Maddy and Caspian are drawn better than the other characters, but Maddy's father and mother, Caspian's biological and adoptive parents also have their own motivations and inspire respect, even if you don't agree with their actions. In fact, Pantheon has almost no passing characters, except that the love story of the British woman and the Iranian man looks a bit artificial, and all the Russians are simply depicted as disgusting, but that's right.
Pantheon is a finished story. The series has only two seasons, with 8 episodes each. Episodes are 40-45 minutes long, so you can watch it literally in one sitting. The only thing is that if the first season is more down-to-earth and most of the events in it take place in our reality, then the second, and especially its second part, is more abstract, there are already many events in the virtual world, which may not appeal to everyone. Well, the last series, Deep Time, generally operates with quite complex fantastic and philosophical concepts.
In any case, Pantheon is a must-see if you like science fiction, post-cyberpunk, futurology, and just good animated stories. I'm even a little jealous of those who will be watching the series for the first time.
