Stephen Holstrom (born Phineas Holstrom; February 26, 1962-March 6, 2003) is a character in the AMC+ animated drama, Pantheon. He is portrayed by William Hurt.
Holstrom was the founder of Logorhythms and a legendary genius billionaire.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Stephen Holstrom was born in San Jose to a middle class couple in the early 1960s. Originally named Phineas after the character in A Seperate Peace by John Knowles, he hated his birth name and considered it an act of abuse by his father. Growing up, he was always rather gifted with mathematics and technology. However his relationship with his father was abusive and he craved his opinion. He cared for his mother, but not her opinions.
On the eve of his eighteenth birthday, Holstrom planned to change his name to Stephen and explained his plans to his then girlfriend Hannah. However, as they stopped at a gas station for beer and condoms, she was struck by the speeding pickup truck as she sat in their parked car. The event scared Holstrom for life. The following day, he legally changed his name from Phineas to Stephen. Not Long after that, his father walked out on the family after breaking his mother’s arm with a hammer.
Founding Logorhythms[]
In his adult life, Holstrom founded Logorhythms. His friend, Julius Pope helped him develop the company. Despite Pope's criticism of some of Holstrom's choices, the company flourished and Holstrom became a wealthy man.
Holstrom and Pope were close, often going on outdoor expeditions together.
Attempting to Create Uploaded Intelligence[]
Eventually, Holstrom thought of creating Uploaded Intelligence, a way to digitize the minds of people to help solve the population crisis, naming it Project Moonshot. Around this time, he entered a relationship with a woman named Renee. However, as the project went off the ground, they encountered a flaw in the upload process where the faster the uploads process the faster their minds decay. Holstrom would spend the rest of his life trying to cure the flaw.
Ultimately, Holstrom was diagnosed with cancer and wanting to crack integrity, developed a backup plan for cure the flaw, Project Caspian. Holstrom cloned himself in a blacksite in Norway and entrusted Renee and Cary Duvall to raise his clone as he was raised to ensure integrity would be cracked.
Death and Post Morton[]
Holstrom passed away before he could see his life's mission of uploaded intelligence accomplished, dying as he wrote equations in his office in Norway. However, his followers have remained loyal to their shared goal and achieved this in his absence. His brain was removed and cryogenically frozen so that he could be uploaded when a cure to the flaw was discovered. An AI hologram with his memories was made to help Caspian and give him advice.
The public saw Holstrom as a visionary who, until his final breath, attempted to push the boundaries of what is possible. Pope succeeded Holstrom as CEO of Logorhythms and did everything in his power and beyond to insure his friend's dreams became a reality.
Appearance[]
Holstrom is a man of Swedish descent with a tall and skinny build. He has gray hair and beard, brown in his youth, and a receding hairline and brown eyes.
Personality[]
Holstrom is driven by his desire to obtain digital immortality and fearful of his own demise. He is cold and calculating, seeing others- including his closest friends, simply as a means to an end. He desires for everyone to be uploaded with himself as the ruler.
Relationships[]
Mr. Holstrom[]
Growing up, Holstrom craved his father’s approval but never received it. His father was abusive towards both himself and his mother. Eventually he stopped caring for his father’s approval. After his father broke his mother’s arm and walked out on the family, felt his father can no longer abuse their family. Shortly before his eighteenth birthday, Holstrom tossed a Mozart cassette out of a moving car, not caring about the consequences
Mrs. Holstrom[]
Growing up, Holstrom cared for his mother but not for her opinions. While he did not care for her opinions, Holstrom cared for his mother’s well being, being relived that his father could n longer hurt and abuse them after walking out on the two.
Julius Pope[]
Holstrom was close with Pope during his life. The two would start Logorhythms together and often go on camping trips together. On his death bed, Holstrom entrusted Pope with achieving his dream of Uploaded Intelligence through any means necessary.
Renee[]
Before his death, Holstrom was in a relationship with Renee. The two were close, with him entrusting her to raise his clone. After his brain was uploaded, Renee was the first person Holstrom recognized. After escaping to the internet, Holstrom entrusted Renee to act as his hands in the physical world. He would give her tasks with the promise of allowing her to upload.
Hannah[]
In his youth, Holstrom loved his girlfriend and was devastated and traumatized upon witnessing her death. Upon changing his name from Phineas, Holstrom kept the “PH” to both honor his lost love, as she stated she liked his original name, and to keep a reminder of his past.
Appearances[]
Season 1[]
- Pantheon (pictured)
- Cycles (seen in pictures video)
- Reign of Winter (seen in video and flashback)
- Zero Daze (flashback)
- You Must Be Caspian (seen in pictures here video)
Season 2[]
- The Gods Have Not Died In Vain (brain seen)
- Crack Integrity
- Joey Coupet
- Olivia & Farhad
- Yair
- Apokalypsis
- The World to Come (flashback)
Trivia[]
- William Hurt's portrayal of Stephen Holstrom was his final role before his passing in March 2022.
- Holstrom is loosely inspired by Adam Ever, a character from a short stories who shares the same goals as him.
Gallery[]