It’s both eerie and exciting to watch the AI race unfold. Regardless of how you feel about the technology, there’s evidence it’s advancing at an alarming rate — but no one really knows how the deployment and integration of AI into society is going to play out in the long run.
As a result, it makes a lot of sense that people are fascinated by stories about AI, and that may be why a “criminally underrated masterpiece,” as one viewer put it, is gaining a new audience. The two-season show “Pantheon” quietly launched on AMC’s streaming platform, AMC+, specifically tackling AI as part of its main plotline. The series explores the intersection of human consciousness and technology, as characters are uploaded into a digital space.
Starring Paul Dano, Katie Chang, and Aaron Eckhart, who are supported by some other incredible actors like Michael Kelly, Scoot McNairy, Ron Livingston, Rosemarie DeWitt, Vinod Chanda, and the late William Hurt, “Pantheon” has had a turbulent run. The first season aired as intended, then, despite being completed, the show was later scrapped for a tax write-down before Season 2 aired. Netflix revived it.
It has a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, a 95% score from users, and on IMDb it has an 8.5-out-of-10 star rating with over 20,000 reviews to date. IMDb users laud it as a “hidden gem,” a “challenging sci-fi cartoon,” and claim “this show is on another level entirely.” As an aside: It would be interesting to see how “Pantheon” ranks in a show-based version of NASA’s most accurate sci-fi movies list, given all of the talk of AI’s future potential. If you want to give it a watch, the show is available to stream on Netflix right now.
What is Pantheon actually about?
The show focuses on three characters: Maddie Kim, played by Katie Chang; Caspian Keyes, played by Paul Dano; and Vinod Chanda, played by Raza Jaffrey. They experience the technological singularity in unique ways. Maddie, who is grieving her father’s physical death, discovers he was involuntarily uploaded to a digital system. Caspian, though unawares, is being manipulated by Logorhythms, one of two major tech companies spearheading the evolution of tech in the “Pantheon” world. Vinod, an engineer for Alliance Telecom — the other major tech corp — is forcefully uploaded by his boss, but instead of toeing the line, he goes rogue.
All three characters work together to uncover what’s going on. The stakes grow, until eventually, the characters are embroiled in a massive conspiracy and a secret arms race between the world’s superpowers.
Ultimately, the show explores what it means to be human, concepts of digital immortality, and the power struggles of a technological race — not unlike what we’re seeing today, though perhaps less dramatically in the real world. As the show’s creator, Craig Silverstein, told Freethink, “Technology isn’t separate from us.” He elaborates, “Just as we are not separate from nature, despite what we might think. It’s a natural evolution that stems from us creating technology. Recognizing this is crucial because it means we can take responsibility for it and try to control its impact, rather than resigning ourselves to, ‘Well, who knows what’ll happen?'” Interesting outlook, indeed.
If you do watch “Pantheon” and end up wanting more sci-fi techno-futurist content, there are some other excellent streaming TV shows that fit the bill, like “Murderbot,” or “Foundation.” Over on Netflix, the best TV shows of the year include some sci-fi goodness, like “Black Mirror” or “Love, Death & Robots.”
