Pantheon arrived with little in the way of promotion in 2022 and delivered an excellent science fiction story, but sadly we may never see the second season because its network cast it off as a write-down.
What Is It?
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 learns that the company that possesses it has other plans for the U.I. and the technology that made it happen.
Aired: AMC, 2022, 2 Seasons Totaling 16 Episodes (2nd Season never aired in the U.S.)
Starring: Katie Chang, Paul Dano, Aaron Eckhart, Rosemarie DeWitt, Daniel Dae Kim, Ron Livingston
Created By: Craig Silverstein
Why Was It Cancelled?
This animated series based on the short stories by Ken Liu moved into development at AMC in 2018, and even though progress on it was slow, the network gave it a two-season commitment up front. The first season finally debuted in September 2022 on the AMC+ and HIDIVE streaming services, but it received very little in the way of promotion. The network did not release any viewership numbers for the series, but apparently it did not draw much of an audience and its cancellation was announced in January 2023 even though the second season was completed at that time. That decision came amidst behind-the-scenes shakeups at AMC Networks following the sudden departure of their CEO in November 2022. The network execs were trying to cut costs and they decided to take a write-down on Pantheon which resulted in it being removed from streaming immediately.
The second season did final make an appearance on Amazon’s Prime Video, but only in Australia and New Zealand. Apparently part of the write-down that the network took involved not making that season available for viewing in the United States. The show was shopped around, but any venue interested in picking up both seasons would have compensate AMC for the tax hit it would have to take to reverse the write-down. The first season of the show joined the Netflix lineup in November 2024, but there has been no word about that service releasing the remaining eight episodes in the States.
Can the Show Be Saved?
The two seasons that were completed told a complete story, though there is more source material from the Ken Liu stories, so it is possible that a third season was considered at some point. But most fans who watched the first season (myself included) are more interested in just seeing the remaining episodes released. As mentioned above, those were streaming Down Under, but it appears that they are not there anymore. The first season is now on Netflix in the U.S., though, so there is some hope.
I have not been able to find out the details for the deal Netflix made for the show, but that company has plenty of money (and they are raising subscription prices again), so they could buy the rights for the second season (if they have not done so already). The fans just have to convince them that it is worth the cost. This one arrived on that streaming service without much notice, but if fans were to start staging watch parties they could get it in the Netflix Top 10. If it spends a few weeks there, then network execs may consider acquiring that second season. And if viewership is strong enough, perhaps they could continue the show into a third year and more. But people need to watch this one on that service for anything to happen. Many of us would like to see the conclusion to the first season, and that could happen if enough people watch the episodes that are currently available for streaming.
Where Can You Watch It?
As mentioned above, Netflix is now streaming the first season of Pantheon in the United States. From what I can tell, only the first season is still available in Australia and New Zealand at this point, and if someone in that area could confirm, that would be great. You can try searching out episodes on YouTube, but they may not last long there because of rights issues. The show is not currently available on physical media.
Did you watch Pantheon and would you support efforts for a revival? Chime in with your comments below.
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