Several weeks ago, one of the executives over at Sony mentioned how the world of adult-focused animation is set to get a boost from this global pandemic that rendered live-action filmmaking completely impossible for several months and continues to hinder the film and TV industry. The executive predicted that we’d likely see a number of new adult animation efforts springing forth. And it appears that is happening over at AMC with the upcoming animated sci-fi series, “Pantheon.”
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According to Variety, AMC is bringing aboard Paul Dano, Taylor Schilling, Aaron Eckhart, and Rosemarie DeWitt to star in the animated series “Pantheon” for the network. The show follows the story of a teenage girl that is being bullied online but receives help from a mysterious stranger online. It’s then revealed that the stranger is none other than her recently deceased father who uploaded his brain to the internet before his untimely demise. “Pantheon” is based on a series of short stories by Ken Liu.
Including big names is a quick way for people to take notice of a new animated series, especially when the genre is normally relegated to more kid-friendly fare in the US. Dano is best known for films such as “Prisoners,” “Swiss Army Man,” and “There Will Be Blood.” He’s set to appear next in “The Batman.” Schilling is most famous for starring as the lead in Netflix’s award-winning series, “Orange is the New Black.” Eckhart is no stranger to high-profile projects, starring in films such as “The Dark Knight” and “Olympus has Fallen.” DeWitt is probably the least known of the new cast (though that’s no slight on the actor’s abilities, whatsoever). She’s appeared in projects such as “Rachel Getting Married” and the recent Hulu series, “Little Fires Everywhere.”
The new sci-fi series is set to be written and showrun by Craig Silverstein. Before “Pantheon,” the producer previously worked with AMC on the period spy series, “Turn: Washington’s Spies.” While he has experience with the network, clearly his new project is a vast departure from his previous series.
It’s unclear when “Pantheon” will be able to premiere, but considering animation production seems to be unencumbered by the pandemic, perhaps this will be developed faster than we think.