Netflix has reportedly cancelled Charlie Covell’s fantastic series ‘KAOS‘ after one season, according to a (now deleted) social media post from one of the stars. Someone really needs to reprogram the algorithm over there…
From BAFTA-winning screenwriter and showrunner Charlie Covell (The End Of The F***ing World), the series is a bold, darkly comic, contemporary take on Greek mythology, exploring love, power, and life in the underworld.
If you have yet to watch the series, it stars Jeff Goldblum as Zeus: King of the Gods, ruler of the world. He’s cruel, stylish and all-powerful. That is, until he’s not…
Having long enjoyed his status as king of the gods, Zeus’s reign has never been truly threatened. That is until he wakes up one morning and discovers a wrinkle on his forehead. Believing it to be the harbinger of an ancient prophecy which foretells his destruction, neurosis sets in: Zeus becomes convinced his fall is coming. As his paranoia takes hold, the god of gods – seeing signs everywhere – starts to dangerously self-destruct.
And he’s right to be worried. Zeus’s one-time friend and now prisoner, Prometheus (Stephen Dillane), is orchestrating a plan to bring him down. The plan involves three disparate humans, all of whom are totally unaware of their cosmic significance or the part they must play in saving the world. No pressure. (Some pressure.)
News of the cancellation popped up on, a now-deleted, Instagram post by Aurora Perrineau, who played “Riddy”, one of those aforementioned three disparate humans:
“Well… this one hurts. I find explaining how I’m feeling to be really difficult, but I’ll try,” she commented. “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.”
Whilst she doesn’t state in the post itself that ‘KAOS’ was cancelled (although it is heavily implied), when a follower asked her straight out if it was cancelled in the comments, she replied “Sadly, yes.”
As we mentioned, Perrineau has since deleted the post. Whether that is because there is still some small hope of it being brought back, or whether it’s because Netflix doesn’t want the news out there, is unclear. However, despite it being generally well-reviewed by both critics and the public, its numbers were not all that strong. It sits somewhere between ‘The Brothers Sun’ and ‘The Dead Boy Detectives’, both of which have already been cancelled by Netflix. The cancellation news is now also being reported by a number of the large industry trades, so, sadly, seems likely it is doomed…
As we’ve seen time and again, quality and critical acclaim don’t matter to Netflix. Eyeballs do. If a show does not have the viewing numbers, the algorithm says “no” and it ends up on the scrapheap. However, that policy is starting to become an issue for the streaming service, and (ironically, given the plotline of ‘KAOS’), something of a self-fulfilling prophecy…
Netflix releases a new show. People are wary of watching as the streaming service has a reputation for canning things after one season, so wait to see if it is renewed first. The show doesn’t get the numbers it needs for season one and Netflix cancels it. Netflix lives up to its reputation for cancelling shows after one season, and the cycle repeats. They really, really need to find some way of breaking that cycle…
Alongside Jeff Goldblum, ‘KAOS’ starred Janet McTeer (Ozark, The Menu) as Hera, David Thewlis (Landscapers, Fargo) as Hades, Rakie Ayola (Anthony, The Pact) as Persephone, Cliff Curtis (Avatar: The Way of Water, Reminiscence) as Poseidon, Stephen Dillane (Game of Thrones, Darkest Hour) as Prometheus, Aurora Perrineau (Westworld, When They See Us) as Riddy, Nabhaan Rizwan (Industry, Station Eleven) as Dionysus, Killian Scott (Dublin Murders, ’71) as Orpheus, Misia Butler (Half Bad, The School For Good And Evil) as Caeneus, Stanley Townsend (The Current War, Becoming Elizabeth) as Minos, and Leila Farzad (I Hate Suzie, Better) as Ari. Billie Piper (I Hate Suzie, Eternal Beauty) and Suzy Eddie Izzard also appear in cameo roles.
‘KAOS‘ can be found on Netflix UK and worldwide.
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