‘Kaos’ Canceled After One Season at Netflix

“Kaos,” the Greek mythology comedy series that premiered in late August, has been canceled at Netflix, Variety has learned.

The show premiered on August 29 and starred Jeff Goldblum as the all mighty Zeus, albeit in a more whimsical and insecure portrayal. In a modern-day setting, Zeus has chained up Prometheus after interfering his with godly rule over humanity. Prometheus then attempts to overthrow Zeus with the help of three humans, Eurydice, Ariadne and Caeneus. Charlie Covell (“The End of the F***ing World”) wrote the entire eight-episode series.

The cast also included Janet McTeer as Hera, Aurora Perrineau as Eurydice, Cliff Curtis as Poseidon, David Thewlis as Hades, Rakie Ayola as Persephone, Killian Scott as Orpheus, Leila Farzad as Ariadne, Nabhaan Rizwan as Dionysus, Debi Mazar as Medusa, Stephen Dillane as Prometheus, Misia Butler as Caeneus, Mat Fraser as Daedalus, Stanley Townsend as Minos, Billie Piper as Cassandra, Suzy Eddie Izzard as Lachesis, Cathy Tyson as Alecto and more.

In her mostly negative review, Variety’s TV critic Aramide Tinubu wrote, “Ultimately, ‘Kaos’ fails to delight because the narrative buckles under the weight of its own ambition. Several storylines stand alone before ramming into each other near the season’s anticlimatic end. The gods rarely even used their powers in any gasp-worthy or thrilling ways. More than anything, viewers are left to wonder why their petty squabbles should be of any concern to us, especially when there’s already so much to confront on Earth.

The show did spend four weeks in the Netflix top 10 charts upon its release, but failed to garner a significant audience in that time. It peaked at number three on the English language TV chart in its second week of availability, with its peak viewership hitting just 5.9 million views. Netflix defines a view as total runtime divided by total hours viewed.

In a since-deleted Instagram post, Perrineau originally broke the news to fans that “Kaos” was canceled. Read her post below.

“Well… this one hurts. I find explaining how I’m feeling to be really difficult, but I’ll try.

“When I started auditioning for this show, I knew it was special, mainly due to the fact that Charlie Covell’s scripts resonated with me in a way most things hadn’t. I knew all of these people, and I loved them all – every flaw, everything.

“For one of the first times in my life, I have found myself really proud. I’m, of course, proud of everyone’s work and the care they gave to this project, because, let me tell you, they left everything on the floor. But I’ve also found myself proud of me, and that is something I’ve struggled with.

“When I got cast, I couldn’t believe that someone SAW me. A girl who’s not only a minority but also a survivor of SA – and you’re telling me that someone thinks I could be one of the leads of a show, have agency, my own mission, and be desirable enough to be the love interest to not only one amazing human but two? I was worthy of that? Everything that happened from that point forward really changed my perspective.

“As the journey continued, I started to learn about the absolutely amazing talent involved – as if Charlie wasn’t enough. Then I learned of our directors, Georgi [Banks-Davies] and Runyararo [Mapfumo]. It continued with our incredible cast; there are far too many to mention, but I have to acknowledge the three who have become life-long friends, family and lifelines while we drifted through Spain for months: Misia [Butler], Nabhaan [Rizwan] and Killian [Scott].

“Our beautiful HMU department, wardrobe department, Sister, Netflix, our production team and our entire crew – every single person involved was a heavy hitter. And there I was, sitting and wondering how? Why me? And the answer I often got back was: why not you?

“Everyone was brilliant and uniquely themselves. Every performance surprised and excited me. I can’t believe I got to do this with all of you. We made something weird, dark, hilarious, deranged and absolutely tragic – something entirely human. THIS is a feeling I plan to take with me.

“Thanks for letting me be your Riddy. I had the time of my life.”