Pantheon FAQ
So many questions...
You are required to watch the entirety of Pantheon before proceeding.
Do you die after you get uploaded?
Within the established worldbuilding of Pantheon itself, the destructive brain scan will cease the life of the embodied human that goes through it. Various characters have stated this. For example, in Season 1 Episode 7, Laurie Lowell has stated that she had "died". Vinod Chanda's arc also centers around his murder by being uploaded against his will.
However, there has been an ongoing debate surrounding what the "self" refers to that ceases to exist, and whether that refers to the physical body, identity, relationships surrounding identities, alongside with other philosophical quandaries. But it can be assumed based on the established canon that the person does die when they get uploaded.
SuperSpaceBully: While I was watching this show I kept thinking about how when people imagine uploading their consciousness, they often think it’s like going to sleep and waking up in a simulated world—but that’s not the case. Your consciousness can’t be transferred; it can only be copied. In the show original you is gone—dead brain quite literally erased and copied, not moved—while the uploaded version is just a replica. You're not taking taking over this new virtual you, it's a completely new you.
sideways: Perhaps our consciousness and our sense of self aren't "things" that can or can't be transferred. I think they're more like stories we tell ourselves. And if that's the case, maybe an UI continuing the story is no less "you" than you are now.
Source:"r/PantheonShow: When you upload, that UI is not you, you are dead"
LaGBIT: In "Pantheon," the process of consciousness upload involves destroying the brain to create a digital copy, suggesting the original person dies and the upload is merely a copy. This raises questions about the continuity of consciousness and the spiritual concept of the soul. The show's twist of a grand simulation further complicates this debate. An alternative idea is a machine that connects to the brain and allows perception of a virtual reality, preserving the original consciousness, akin to an advanced VR system. This, however, doesn't achieve immortality as in the show, as the physical brain's limitations still apply.
Source: "r/PantheonShow: The Consciousness Transfer Dilemma in Pantheon: Death or Continuity?"
NotYourAverageDaddy: The original Maddie's dad still died, his consciousness disappeared, or at least for himself. Since they did a 1:1 copy of the brain, for everyone else except for himself, he is still alive and will "live" forever. This would be quite useful for people who lost their relatives and friends. However, if their final goal is to upload EVERYONE, then what's the point? Since everyone will actually be dead, and the only thing left on earth is a bunch of computer algorithms.
rouv3n: This is the exact same discussion as it is for teleportation. The consensus is that it really doesn't matter that it's a copy, especially not if it's the only copy (and people don't continue living in their original bodies). Every copy is an equally valid continuation of the initial consciousness. In particular, uploading your mind is an entirely valid way of enhancing your life span. Similarly, copying people loads of times to use them as labor is still slavery independent of whether a copy of the mind still exists in the original body or not.
radewinds369: Great question and observation
This is a very contentious philosophical debate topic today about the efficacy of uploading your consciousness onto a computer or the Cloud. It is similar to the "Teleportation Paradox" from Star Trek or the "Ship of Theseus" thought experiment
Personally, a better method would be to make a non-destructive copy of the test subjects consciousness first, verify its authenticity, and then, if necessary, delete/destroy the original.
Or an even better method, would be to let both consciousnesses survive independently of each other after the initial non-destructive copying and study the inherent differences between the two in their respective environments and obtain more data.
Was Pantheon intended to be more than two seasons?
No. The show was written to be two seasons long.
AMC is breaking new ground with Pantheon, a primetime animated drama series. The network is making a big bet on the hourlong project from Turn creator/executive producer Craig Silverstein and AMC Studios, with an order for two eight-episode seasons.
Source: Deadline
While there has been a brief debate on whether it was intended to be an ongoing series (as reported in the article), a few redditors have discussed the context of "ongoing" in the article.
hamtaxer: “Envisioned as” basically means the stages before the show was ever even approved to begin pre-production
KaleidoscopeTop6755: At bare minimum, I think the original vision saw those last two episodes as its own season. I do think that early on, they pivoted into what the show became (and they pivoted successfully) but I think the wording of this article paired with some narrative pacing lend to the idea of a third season that was originally planned. I think the 20 year time jump, as well as the super deep time jumps, were always going to happen for sure. But I think you can see enough of a skeleton for a 3rd season in those two episodes.
jesusjones182: As another commenter observed, that "envisioning" could have happened way at the start of the project, and by the time they started inking the deal was already for a two season run then end. So we can't be sure the showrunners were caught off guard and, with two seasons to work with, wanted to do it differently. Who knows, a third season could have meant we got five more episodes of Yair, Oliva, and Farhad. Hard to say what would have happened. But for me, the fast flash cuts to the future really heightened the impact and the drama and gave it the wow factor that a slower story might have lacked. I did not need a whole episode of Maddie building her dyson sphere -- I got the gist enough with what they showed me.
Why did Pantheon get cancelled?
It was "cancelled" in a sense that it ceased to air on AMC+ (its original streaming platform) in 2023. The reason being:
Facing financial struggles, the decision to drop Pantheon was made months ago as part of wider programming writer-offs. In an SEC filing, AMC indicated cost-cutting measures of $300-$400 million earmarked for “strategic programming assessments” and another $50-$75 million for “organizing restructuring costs.” AMC has been experiencing turmoil at the top, and in November of 2022, AMC Networks CEO Christina Spade left the company after only three months in charge. James L. Dolan took over as interim CEO and the company announced there would be “significant cutbacks” coming. Pantheon was a casualty of those cutbacks, along with live-action shows such as 61st Street, Demascus, and Invitation to a Bonfire.
Source: Cartoon Brew
Who is Hannah/Rachel and what is her role in the show?
Hannah was Holstrom's late girlfriend. Her accident became the trigger for Holstrom's fear of death, contributing to his desire to develop uploaded intelligence. Rachel was hired to play Hannah for Caspian's Truman Show-esque life so that her murder becomes an inflection point for him to cure the integrity flaw.
What happened to Yair and Farhad in Season 2 Episode 6
They combined into a yellow CI to assist with Caspian's battle against Holstrom.
What happened to [insert character who isn't explicitly killed nor combined here]?
They were simply never mentioned again because they aren't part of Pantheon's narrative priorities. Their ultimate fates are up for interpretation.
Why are the last two episodes rushed?
Because Pantheon is about the technological singularity, a hypothetical endpoint where the development of technology goes through an exponential rate that goes beyond human comprehension and cannot be reversed. The visualization of this can be seen through the following chart that visualizes AI development through the years:
The pacing of the last two episodes is supposed to go on an accelerated pace that parallels the singularity. Narratively, Caspian has been "dormant" for 20 years, and the penultimate episodes take place after Caspian gets fully reconstructed by MIST. We are meant to see the world through the eyes of Caspian, where the world has become overwhelming and confusing as the result of the technological singularity.
Does the end of Pantheon lead to the beginning?
That is up to the viewer. Some viewers think it's cyclical, while others believe that this simulation will be the last one before Maddie and Caspian will change things.