KAOS Season 1 Ending: Creator and Stars Explain Finale Meaning

All of the heroes and villains of KAOS have a part in that cosmic scheme, from humans like Riddy (Aurora Perrineau), Caeneus (Misia Butler), and Ari (Leila Farzad) to supernatural beings like the Fates and Dionysus (Nabhaan Rizwan). Keep reading to find peace in the KAOS of all your biggest questions.

What is the Nothing? And how is it connected to the Meander?

Down in the Underworld, Riddy and Caeneus stumble on the Nothing, an eerie cavern filled with the husks of human souls. Two truths become clear: Mortal souls don’t go through the Underworld’s Frame to find renewal back on Earth (as the gods have told them), and the Nothing is actually somehow connected to preserving the gods’ supremacy.

“Zeus spun all of this shit. The humans, they eat it up, because they think they should be doing what the gods say,” KAOS creator Charlie Covell tells Tudum. “The narrative (has) been very carefully constructed by Zeus to shore up his power.”

In the finale, viewers learn why Hades (David Thewlis), god of the Underworld, is helping his brother Zeus with this plot. The souls trapped in the Nothing are renewed up to somewhere — they’re just not going back up to Earth. Instead, they become the drinking water that populates the Meander in Olympus, which maintains the gods’ immorality and preserves their otherworldly abilities.

When Zeus rations out the Meander water to his family in the finale, he’s effectively putting them on an immortality leash. But now that everything has changed in the world of KAOSwho’s really in the mythological doghouse?

Is Riddy really a prophet now?

Move over, Cassandra (Billie Piper) — there’s a new prophet in town, and her name is Riddy. Toward the end of Episode 8, Riddy encounters Cassandra, the Trojan woman who predicted Riddy’s death in the series premiere. “I’m a prophet. So are you now,” Cassandra tells Riddy, who was just led out of the Underworld by her ex, Orpheus (Killian Scott). Cassandra urges Riddy to find Ari in Krete to help the living. And, Cassandra promises, “Caeneus will do the same with the dead.” Clearly, Caeneus and Riddy’s prophetic connection wasn’t severed by her leaving the Underworld.

Perrineau, who portrays Riddy, felt “so cool” reading Riddy’s final scenes. “But it’s daunting for the character. Everything she’s ever known is changed, and she doesn’t even have her partner. It’s just her,” she says. “And then Cassandra shows up like, ‘Hey, I know I killed you basically last time. Good to see you.’ Just perfect.”

What does Caeneus’ ending mean?

Riddy, Ari, Caeneus, and Zeus all share a prophecy: “A line appears, the order wanes, the Family falls, and Kaos reigns.” Many lines appear throughout KAOS — like the cut on Zeus’ pinky — including one that appears on Caeneus’ face at a pivotal moment. In the finale, his mother, Myrina (Amanda Hadingue), dies and shows up in the Underworld determined to take her son through the Frame. Once they’re transported to the Nothing, Caeneus is just a husk, like the rest of the souls down there. But then he comes back to life. His rejuvenation begins with an energetic line near his chin, and soon enough, a very alive Caeneus resurrects Myrina. The same light that awakened her flashes through other nearby souls.

No one is more surprised by this than Hades, who’d attempted something similar earlier in the finale. Caeneus succeeded where Hades failed. “You can renew human souls,” Hades tells Caeneus.

Writer Covell always hoped to put a less violent spin on Caeneus, a mythical warrior. “In versions of the myth, he becomes a very macho, violent warrior,” Covell says. “Our Caeneus is the opposite of that. He is a warrior in a much gentler, much more self-sacrificing way.” In KAOSCaeneus doesn’t take life — he gives it back.

What is going on in Krete with Ari, President Minos, and the Minotaur?

As with Olympus and the Underworld, the issues in Krete can be traced to a prophecy. President Minos’ (Stanley Townsend) prophecy reads, “Your end begins in the marital bed: The first child to draw breath will kill you dead.” So when Minos and his wife, Pas (Shila Ommi), welcomed twins — first Glaucus (Fady Elsayed), then Ari — the king had his infant son imprisoned. To cover it up, Minos said the baby died and blamed it on Ari, telling everyone she suffocated Glaucus in their shared crib. Minos then had him raised secretly in the depths of a dark cell. When Glaucus killed a man, Minos decided his son should become the deadly Minotaur.

In Episode 6, Zeus becomes interested in this family drama. Paranoid about his prophecy, he admires that Minos lives in defiance of him by jailing his would-be killer. So Zeus demands the situation be taken to the next level and orders Minos to murder his son, thereby nullifying the prophecy in totality. In Episode 7, Minos follows these orders and slits Glaucus’ throat.

But there’s a problem with everyone’s logic. Glaucus was not the first twin to “draw breath,” as the prophecy states. That was Ari, who entered the world screaming. Glaucus, on the other hand, was born blue. He only drew breath after his sister was born. The prophecy always actually referenced Ari.

Horrified by her father’s filicide, Ari stabs Minos to death. Up in Olympus, Zeus passes out in distress. But another member of his family has a very different response.

Why did Dionysus go to Ari?

Dionysus looks down at his heart as he witnesses the carnage in the labyrinth. “I think I’m in love,” he mumbles, flabbergasted. The last time we see the god of pleasure, he’s standing outside of Ari’s palace with half a bottle of immortality-giving Meander water. What could that mean?

“I think that’s open for interpretation. His quest for love — the concept of love — leads him to perhaps want romantic love,” Rizwan, who plays Dionysus, tells Tudum. “Ultimately, he’s been helping Orpheus get back his romantic love. He is obviously curious about monogamy and what committed love feels like. Perhaps he sees that in Ari.”

McTeer — who plays Dionysus’ on-screen stepmom, Hera — thinks real romance might be a step in the right direction for KAOS‘ most noncommittal demigod. “To get everything that you want, it’s just not enough,” McTeer says. “When we first saw Dionysus, he’s all about pleasure. But he’s bored of that. If you have pleasure your entire life, if you’re a rich young kid and you’ve never had to work for anything… you just get messed up.”

“He sees Riddy and Orpheus, and he goes, ‘Wow, I want that. I want love.’ All the pleasure in the world, and all he really wants is love. It’s so nice.”

Who was Hera calling at the end of KAOS?

The last time we see Hera in Episode 8, she’s flanked by her loyal Tacitas and attached to a pay phone unbefitting the queen of the gods. But desperate times call for desperate measures. “Darling, it’s mommy,” Hera tells some unseen offspring. “Gather the troops. And make up the spare bed.” Who could Hera be talking to? Well, for now, all Covell will say is that they “have some plans…”.

Keep coming back to Tudum for more.

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