KAOS creator on the hidden meanings you might have missed

As a self-proclaimed mythology nerd, Covell knew a thing or two about the Greeks before setting off on this mammoth challenge. But just how did they go about condensing the story of Zeus and his family into an eight-part Netflix series?

We sat down to talk about their inspiration for the series, the mythological easter eggs included in the show and their plans for a potential season two and beyond.

Cosmo UK: Hey Charlie. Why did you want to tell a story centred on Greek mythology? Out of all the myths you could have explored, why did you pick this story to tell?

Charlie: I was a massive nerd who was obsessed with the original Clash of the Titans film; I watched it weekly, if not daily. I got given a book of Greek mythology for children, and I just loved it. As I got older, I started really enjoying any reinterpretations of the myths, like Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad and Carol Ann Duffy’s The World’s Wife. She has a brilliant reinterpretation of Orpheus and Eurydice, which was a big inspiration.

The first play I ever wrote was a short play in 2009 about Clytemnestra. One day I had this idea about Zeus. I was like, “What if the king of the gods had a midlife crisis? What would that look like?” Initially I wanted to do it as an immersive theatre piece, but that didn’t get the funding.

Then I did The End of The F***ing World and after that, I really wanted to pitch this Greek mythology idea. My first draft was like a mad fever dream, with a reinterpretation of every myth.

Ultimately, I wanted to tell a story about power and love and revolution. It was about connecting the gods and the humans, and using Zeus’s breakdown as the spine of the piece.

What allowances did you create to ensure people who don’t have huge knowledge of Greek mythology would also enjoy the show?

As with any drama, it’s about compelling characters and compelling stories. Even if you don’t know anything about the myths, you can see that Zeus and Hera (Janet McTeer) are the heads of a dysfunctional family.

And the thing about the myths is they are eternally relevant because they are so deeply human. Kind of disappointingly, yet hopefully, humans don’t seem to change that much. You can press pause on any moment in human history, and the myths will be relevant in that moment, because they’re about power, death, abuse of power, oppressed people, dysfunctional families and love in all forms.

How did you approach some of the most iconic myths, like Persephone and Hades?

In episode eight, Persephone asks [Hera] “Why did you tell the story?” I’m interested in this idea of who controls the narrative. History is written by the winners, and so who is spinning these myths?

I always liked that Persephone and Hades had a really good relationship that almost had a PR hate campaign from the family, and Rakie [Ayola] and David [Thewlis] are so brilliant together.

I love them as a couple, and so that take on it was looking at the three brothers [Zeus, Posideon and Hades] and how there was competition and love and hate between them. Also, looking at the two women [Hera and Persephone] in that family and the power struggle. In episode eight, my feeling is the two women are in incredible positions of strength, even though the men don’t necessarily know it. For me, they end pretty strong.

I loved the details in the supermarket with the Olympus-themed cereals. What other easter eggs might we have missed?

The pomegranate is important symbolically. So you’ve got Riddy (Aurora Perrineau) buying the pomegranate [in the supermarket], which is connected to death. And then in episode eight, Zeus is slicing a pomegranate in his dreams.

In episode one, if you pause just a few frames before the truck hits Riddy, you can see it says “Serpent Solutions” on it, because she was bitten by a snake in the original myth. And Riddy and Orpheus’ (Killian Scott) home is [called] Villa Thrace, because that’s where they’re from.

In episode five, when one of the Furies says to Ari (Leila Farzad) about pulling the thread, because when you pull it, everything unravels. And in the myth of the labyrinth, Ari gives Theseus the thread.

Where is Zeus’ prophecy “A line appears, the order wanes, the family falls and kaos reigns” from?

The prophecy was made up. The concept of prophecies, and every human having their own one, that’s something that we invented.

And the tacitas was something that just popped into my head weirdly. I think it was probably inspired by the Hunger Games books. It’s not in the films, but there are the avoxes who are servants without tongues.

Speaking of the tactias, Greek mythology has traditionally not been very favourable to women, but Kaos gives them more agency, while also literally taking away their voices in the case of the tacitas…

You can see it like they’ve had their voices taken away, but actually, those women offer themselves up willingly to Hera. They are women submitting to another woman. And I mean Riddy’s mother (Michelle Greenidge), I don’t know how subservient she actually is. I’m interested in where we could take that story.

And with Persephone, it’s about almost retelling those stories from the perspective of the woman, rather than the woman being the wife of somebody.

We do start off with Zeus running the shop, and it’s very much a patriarchal world. By the end, you’ve got Riddy, and Ari and Hera and Persephone, who will be on opposing sides. They’re not going to work together, but it feels like power has shifted somewhat by the end.

Hugh Grant was originally lined up to play Zeus, before Jeff took over. Is that true, and what were you looking for from your lead role?

Now that Jeff is Zeus, I can’t imagine anyone else. And to me, he’s perfect casting. Pre Jeff, we were just looking for someone who could be terrifying and vulnerable, and was a fantastic actor. And I think Hugh Grant’s a very fine actor. But I think we ended up with the perfect actor.

Many people might not know Caeneus is a character from Greek mythology who was born a woman but turned into a man by Poseidon. How did you approach his story?

I’ve always loved Caeneus. He’s very small myth. And actually Misia [Butler], who plays Caeneus is a fellow nerd and geek, and he and I become really good friends. With Caeneus, I wanted to tell a story with a trans male protagonist, because it’s interesting to me and there’s a personal aspect there. But also there are not many stories where trans men are the main character, and so it was important to me that his transness was integral to him, but not the only thing we know about Caeneus.

In the myth he becomes this hyper-macho, violent warrior, and the Caeneus in Kaos is a much more gentle kind of almost reluctant hero warrior.

Can Caeneus come back from the dead?

I think anything is possible. My dream was three seasons. I’ve got many ideas and a strong sense of what I’d want to do with it.

The series ends very much as if it’s setting up for a second season…

There’s definitely more. I also didn’t want to do an ending that was a total cliffhanger. I hope that it feels satisfying as a season one in its own right, and there’s always hope for the more. Because I really would love to do more and work with those actors and that team. It was a bit of a dream come true.

Has there been any word from Netflix on season 2?

Not yet, but they’ve been very supportive of it.

Kaos is available on Netflix now

Lydia Venn

Senior Entertainment and Lifestyle Writer

 Lydia Venn is Cosmopolitan UK’s Senior Entertainment and Lifestyle Writer. She covers everything from , to the latest celebrity news. She also writes across our work/life section regularly creating , covering exciting new releases and sharing the latest must-haves. In her role she’s interviewed everyone from Margot Robbie to Niall Horan, and her work has appeared on an episode of . After completing a degree in English at the University of Exeter, Lydia moved into journalism, writing for the , before working as Features Editor at , where she spoke on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and Talk Radio. She has an encyclopedic knowledge of Gilmore Girls and 00s teen movies, and in her free time can be found with a margarita in hand watching the Real Housewives on repeat. Find her on .