The purge of original programming continues as AMC+ has announced the cancellation of it’s animated AI-series Pantheon despite the fact that it had a two-season order and the second season was already completed. This comes amidst behind-the-scenes shakeups at AMC Networks following the sudden departure of their CEO in November of last year. Pantheon becomes yet another victim of the recent trend of write-downs used to save entertainment companies money through tax breaks. Though it certainly does not seem to make a lot of sense considering the fact that the second season of the show was already completed. It has been pulled from streaming on AMC+ and will save the network money on residuals paid to the cast and crew, but they already sunk a fair amount of money into producing that second season.
Pantheon premiered in September 2022 with very little on the way of promotion, and since the Nielsen Streaming rankings do not track AMC+, we did not see any viewership numbers. AMC never released any stats either which suggests that the show did not find much of an audience (not surprisingly seeing as they did almost nothing to promote it). The streamer had previously touted the viewership numbers for its sci fi series Moonhaven and had given that one a second-season renewal, but then reversed that when the shakeups started in November.
There is a possibility that Pantheon could move to a different venue and perhaps even continue beyond its second season, but Deadline refers to that as a “small chance”. This is actually quite a good sci fi entry (more on that at this link), and fans should come together and lobby to at least get the show moved to a platform that will stream both seasons. A Call to Action on the social networks could bring it some attention and interest another network into taking a flyer on the series.
Pantheon follows a bullied teenager who starts receiving strange messages online, and she discovers that they are from her father who died two years ago but had his intelligence uploaded. She seeks the help of others to gain custody of his U.I. (Uploaded Intelligence) but discovers that the company that possesses it has other plans for the U.I. and the technology that made it happen. The voice cast includes Katie Chang, Paul Dano, Aaron Eckhart, Rosemarie DeWitt, Daniel Dae Kim, and Ron Livingston and it is based on a series of short stories by Ken Liu.
The new year has just begun and it is starting to look like 2023 could bring a lot of cancellations, so be sure to stay tuned to this site for news and updates. You can see the status of all the currently airing and returning sci fi and fantasy shows on our Cancellation Watch Page. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news.
CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates of all the currently airing sci fi and fantasy shows with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news and updates.
SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.
