Television series

Pantheon

Name: Pantheon
Genre: Drama, Science Fiction, Thriller
Released: 2022
Cast: Katie Chang, Rosemarie DeWitt, Paul Dano, Ron Livingston, Taylor Schilling

AI and robot sci-fi

A science-fiction thriller about a bullied teenager whose deceased father's consciousness is uploaded to the internet, becoming the first of a new kind of being. It blends intimate family drama with escalating conspiracy and existential stakes, balancing the personal with the geopolitical. For viewers who want their sci-fi grounded in real emotional consequence.

TVMaze rating

3.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like thoughtful science fiction that treats uploaded minds as real people with real grief, and you don't mind a slow build toward big questions about what we owe each other.

Skip it if you want a tidy, fast thriller; this is a patient, melancholy show whose cleverness arrives in slow, talky scenes, and its tech questions are more philosophical than gripping.

What it asks of you: Sixteen episodes of roughly 42 minutes each, watched with steady attention, since it builds slowly and rewards patience over quick payoffs, with a quiet, unhurried dread.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Dark2017

German series about a small town where children vanish, revealing layers of mystery across time. Intricate plotting, genuine darkness, and an ending that earns its ambition. Pantheon shares its willingness to make real stakes feel heavy.

But Four seasons and 26 hours total. The mythology gets genuinely convoluted; you'll need to pay close attention or keep notes.

Orphan Black2013

Tatiana Maslany plays multiple clones unraveling their origins. Same energy as Pantheon: personal horror wrapped around technological nightmare. Inventive, propulsive, and occasionally heartbreaking.

But The later seasons lose focus as the mythology expands. Some plot threads feel abandoned in the rush to finish.

The OA2016

Interdimensional mysteries, absent parents, teenagers discovering hidden powers. Visually inventive and genuinely strange. Pantheon fans will recognize the same taste for the uncanny lurking beneath ordinary life.

But Cancelled on a cliffhanger after two seasons. You'll finish wanting more and not getting it—which stings.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Pantheon

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Upload2020

Both centre on the existential horror and wonder of uploaded consciousness, but Upload asks 'what if it was funny?' where Pantheon asks 'what if it was a weapon?'

Amazon comedy about a man who dies and wakes up in a digital afterlife. Pantheon treats consciousness-uploading as horror and thriller; this one finds the absurdity and romance in it. Same conceptual core, completely different register—lighter without being careless about the stakes.

But Leans hard into comedy. If you want sci-fi dread rather than sci-fi charm, this will feel flippant about what matters.

Snowpiercer2020

Post-apocalyptic thriller where the rich hoard the last train. Sharp social commentary, real violence, and characters who feel trapped. Pantheon's conspiracy has the same suffocating pressure.

But Becomes repetitive after season one. The class-warfare engine runs out of new ideas to grind.

Raised by Wolves2020

Two androids raise human children on an alien planet. Visually stunning, philosophically ambitious, often genuinely unsettling. Like Pantheon, it asks hard questions about what it means to be human.

But Cancelled after two seasons. The ending doesn't resolve what it sets up, and the middle drags.

The Expanse2015

Space opera where geopolitics and personal stakes interweave. Smart plotting, good cast, expands its world with intention. Both shows balance intimate drama with world-threatening conflict.

But Slow start. Season one feels scattered before the larger architecture clicks into place.

Westworld2016

AI consciousness in a theme park. Gorgeous cinematography, twisty plotting, and genuine questions about suffering and agency. Pantheon's obsession with uploaded minds finds full expression here.

But Season two stumbles badly. The show's appetite for mystery exceeds its ability to land answers.

Fringe2008

FBI agents investigate interdimensional anomalies. Strong cast chemistry, imaginative concepts, a grounded approach to the impossible. Both shows treat the weird as urgent rather than whimsical.

But Five seasons. Uneven pacing, and the later mythology becomes tangled.

The Gifted2017

Mutant family on the run. Solid character work, good action sequences, and genuine suspense. Similar blend of family dynamics pressed against larger systemic threat.

But Cancelled after two seasons on a cliffhanger. Feels incomplete in its central conflicts.

A Ghost Story2017

Both ask whether the thing that remains after death is meaningfully the person who died, and both use that question to break your heart.

A man dies, returns as a ghost in a sheet, and silently watches decades pass. Meditative and crushing. Pantheon obsesses over whether digital consciousness is still the person you loved; this film asks the same question through pure image and time. Devastating.

But Minimal plot, minimal dialogue, very slow. Not a film that gives you anything easy to hold onto. Will feel pretentious to anyone not in the mood for it.

Severance2022

Both explore what happens when consciousness becomes a product, a weapon, or something governments and corporations can exploit—and what it costs the people inside.

Workers undergo surgery to split their work and personal selves into separate consciousnesses. Pantheon's paranoia and family anguish gets filtered through corporate dystopia and Kafkaesque nightmare. Visually stunning, philosophically rigorous, genuinely disturbing. Ben Affleck in his finest work.

But Only one season so far, released slowly. The show withholds answers deliberately, which is bold but can feel frustrating.