Netflix incurs the wrath of the gods as Jeff Goldblum-starring Kaos series is reportedly canceled after one season

Zeus looks unimpressed as he leans on a table in Netflix's Kaos TV show
"Don't be mad, Zeus, but we're canceling your TV show..." (Image credit: Justin Downing/Netflix)

Update: after deleting her original Instagram post overnight, Kaos actor Aurora Perrineau has since re-uploaded her statement on the show's cancelation on X/Twitter (see below), which strongly suggests that the series has, in fact, been axed. Netflix is still yet to respond to my request for an official comment on the matter.


Original story follows.

Netflix has incurred the wrath of its fanbase after the streaming titan reportedly canceled its dark comedy Greek mythology-inspired series Kaos after one season.

According to one of the show's stars Aurora Perrineau, the Jeff Goldblum-starring TV Original won't be back for a second season following its apparent axing. Indeed, in a now-deleted Instagram post – as first reported by What's on Netflix – Perrineau heavily implied that Kaos had been canned after its initial eight-episode run. Responding to a fan on the same social media platform for confirmation that the show had been shelved not long after her original post, Perrineau replied: "Sadly, yes".

Netflix didn't respond to my request for an official comment on Kaos' rumored cancelation, nor Perrineau's reaction to its shelving, by the time of publication. I'll update this article if I receive a response.

If Kaos is the latest Netflix series to be consigned to the scrap heap, it'll be a huge blow to not only fans of the show, but also creator Charlie Covell. Speaking to Cosmopolitan magazine after the first season debuted on the world's best streaming service, Covell said it was his "dream" to turn Kaos into a three-season series. Sadly for Covell, Perrineau, and the rest of the cast and crew, it's highly unlikely that Covell's vision will be fully realized.

Based on Greek and Roman mythology, Kaos was marketed as a modern and darkly humorous retelling of the deities who lauded it over Earth's human population. In it, Goldblum stars as Zeus, the Greek gods' vain and corrupt leader who becomes increasingly paranoid that his long-running time as king is coming to an end. Indeed, Zeus becomes convinced that a prophecy – involving fellow god Prometheus and three humans named Eurydice, Caeneus, and Ariadne – will end his time as Mount Olympus' top dog, thus igniting a civil war between those who are ruled and those who rule them.

'If I don't get a second season of Kaos, I'm canceling my Netflix account'

Kaos may not be one of the best Netflix shows ever made but, as speculation about its rumored cancelation spreads online, fans have taken to social media to vent their fury at Netflix for scrapping another of its TV Originals. A quick glance at X/Twitter tells you all you need to know about what subscribers think of this decision, with many users labeling it a *ahem* Greek tragedy of sorts.

"Why do they even bother making new shows that have a great potential and cancel them after one season?" user sillyellitzobb opined. "You have to binge everything in one day to get more, and even hat isn't enough. This is no fun anymore". Meanwhile, another X/Twitter user in darkwillowz wrote: "Didn't Netflix JUST release Kaos like a week ago? And they are already cancelling it??? I mean no one even got a chance to watch it yet."

"They're cancelling Kaos after one season and one month after release??? Netflix is so broken", CSMFHT said, before ArabellaWrites1 chimed in with: "Netflix cancelling a show that was slated for three seasons for the complete story is so f*****g stupid. Bring back Kaos and stop cancelling your queer shows."

That's just a tiny percentage of the unhappy reactions that fans have had to Kaos' supposed axing, so there's clearly a big enough appetite from portions of Netflix's global fanbase for another installment. 

That said, it seems Kaos' cancelation was inevitable. As What's on Netflix notes in its aforementioned report, the show accrued less than 100 million hours viewed in its first 28 days on Netflix. Compare that to, say, The Perfect Couple, which racked up over twice as many hours streamed in its first two weeks on the platform, and the chances of Kaos being renewed for another season weren't looking too promising. Add in the fact that Netflix changed the series' labeling from Kaos season 1 to simply Kaos a couple of weeks ago (again, according to What's on Netflix), and its season 2 chances looked even bleaker before yesterday's (October 7) news broke.

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Senior Entertainment Reporter

As TechRadar's senior entertainment reporter, Tom covers all of the latest movies, TV shows, and streaming service news that you need to know about. You'll regularly find him writing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, and many other topics of interest.

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