In [16]: import itertools
In [17]: from copy import deepcopy
In [18]: a=[0,1,2,3]
In [19]: b=[9,8,7,6]
In [20]: c=it.chain(a,b)
In [21]: d=deepcopy(c)
In [22]: id(c), id(d)
Out[22]: (140332818554768, 140332818554576)
In [23]: list(c)
Out[23]: [0, 1, 2, 3, 9, 8, 7, 6]
In [24]: list(d)
Out[24]: []