Creating ‘Kaos’: Writer Charlie Covell and Star Jeff Goldblum Talk Bringing Greek Myths to Life in New Netflix Series

variety.com:

K.J. Yossman The upcoming Netflix drama “Kaos” is an old tale with a distinctly modern spin. Jeff Goldblum stars as Zeus, king of the gods, but in this telling he’s an aging, sexually incontinent, increasingly paranoid figure — Logan Roy springs to mind — trying to keep his grip on his family and his empire. “Why do we come back to myths?” says creator Charlie Covell, musing on the source material of the series, which drops on Aug.

29. “They’re timeless; the issues are eternal.” Indeed, the story has been a long time in the making for Covell, who sees the themes of “power, abuse of power, love, death, family and dysfunctional family” as continually relevant — and eternally fascinating — to audiences. “Kaos,” like “Succession,” centers on powerful siblings at each other’s throats, but these are no mere mortals grappling for control of a media company.

Instead, Covell’s darkly funny saga is a fantastical/modern-day mashup that ranges between Zeus’ resplendent palace on Mount Olympus and the Underworld, which is envisioned as a Kafkaesque nightmare crawling with humorless civil servants.

In between is contemporary Crete, filled with cars, falafel trucks and ordinary citizens in modern dress. Even the gods favor athleisure: Zeus sports a tracksuit embroidered with lightning bolts; Poseidon (Cliff Curtis) struts around in swim trunks on his yacht in the middle of the Mediterranean, conducting a torrid affair with Zeus’ wife, Hera (Janet McTeer).