‘Kaos’: the gods exist and they live in the Royal Palace of Caserta
There is some Italy amidst the locations of Kaos, the Netflix series set in an alternative present where the gods of classical antiquity rule over the human world.
Just like in legend, omnipotent Zeus lives with Hera on mount Olympus, the head of a large dysfunctional family of capricious, quarrelsome and vengeful gods. But a wrinkle on his forehead makes the king of the gods paranoid and ushers in a midlife crisis. Who will suffer the consequences?
Royal Palace of Caserta and Villa d’Este - locations in ‘Kaos’
Although set on Olympus, the sacred mountain of ancient Greece, the series was filmed in Spain and the United Kingdom, with Italy providing some settings.
These included the Royal Palace of Caserta, a grandiose building designed by Luigi Vanvitelli and built between the 18th and 19th centuries, which was transformed into the sumptuous home of the gods, the setting for intrigues, tragicomic situations and mythological references transposed to the present day.
The gardens of Villa d'Este in Tivoli, with their impressive concentration of fountains, nymphaea, grottoes, water games and hydraulic music, were also "placed" on mount Olympus to act as a backdrop to the intrigues hatched by the capricious inhabitants of Mount Olympus.
The gods of 'Kaos', plot and cast
Zeus, struck by paranoia due to a new wrinkle on his forehead, continues to reign over Olympus, populated by capricious gods.
The king of the gods (Jeff Goldblum) wakes up one day with a wrinkle on his forehead, this sparks a midlife crisis that makes him neurotic and paranoid: convinced it is the beginning of his downfall, he sees omens everywhere. Hera, queen of the gods (Janet McTeer), dominates the Earth and Zeus in her own way, but her power and the freedom she enjoys are threatened by his growing paranoia, pushing her to take action. Meanwhile Dionysus, his rebellious son (Nabhaan Rizwan), has lost all restraint and is on a collision course with his father. Hades (David Thewlis), king of the underworld, once Zeus's reliable brother, begins to lose control of his kingdom of darkness: the dead to be redistributed are crowding the underworld and discontent is growing.
Things don't seem to be going any better on Earth: humans are demanding change, but Poseidon (Cliff Curtis), ruler of the seas, storms and earthquakes (as well as horses), is more concerned with the size of his megayacht and the location for the next party. The good of ordinary mortals doesn't seem to interest him.
Unfortunately for the gods, some humans are starting to take notice: Riddi (Aurora Perrineau), Orpheus (Killian Scott), Ceneo (Misia Butler) and Arianna (Leila Farzad) have very different lives but are cosmically linked in the fight against Zeus. Despite their very different roles, any of them could cause the fall of the gods.
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