American Gods Information

American Gods is an upcoming television series created by Bryan Fuller and Michael Green for Starz, based on the novel of the same name by author Neil Gaiman. Fuller and Green will script the first episode and serve as showrunners. Gaiman will executive produce along with Fuller, Green, Craig Cegielski, Stefanie Berk and Thom Beers. The eight-episode first season is set to premiere on April 30, 2017.

Premise

The series will focus on the mysterious Shadow Moon, a man serving three years in prison for assault. With only days remaining in his sentence, Shadow is given an unexpected early release after his beloved wife Laura is killed in a car accident. Flying home for the funeral, Shadow is seated next to a man calling himself Wednesday, who offers Shadow a job he seems all too confident that Shadow will accept. Arriving home, Shadow finds that the life he thought was waiting for him is gone. With no other options, he accepts Wednesday's offer. At first, it appears that Wednesday is nothing but a con artist who runs scams for cash and needs Shadow as a collaborator and bodyguard. Shadow soon learns that Wednesday is in fact the god Odin of Norse mythology. Wednesday is making his way across America, gathering all the old gods, who, without believers, have now incorporated themselves into American life and pretend to be ordinary people, while the New Gods - Media, Technology, and a host of others - grow ever stronger. Shadow finds himself drawn into a final confrontation between the old gods and the new.

Cast

• Ricky Whittle as Shadow Moon
• Ian McShane as Mr. Wednesday
• Emily Browning as Laura Moon
• Pablo Schreiber as Mad Sweeney
• Yetide Badaki as Bilquis
• Bruce Langley as Technical Boy
• Jonathan Tucker as Low Key Lyesmith
• Crispin Glover as Mr. World
• Cloris Leachman as Zorya Vechernyaya
• Peter Stormare as Czernobog
• Chris Obi as Mr. Jacquel
• Mousa Kraish as the Jinn
• Gillian Anderson as Media
• Omid Abtahi as Salim
• Orlando Jones as Mr. Nancy
• Demore Barnes as Mr. Ibis
• Dane Cook as Robbie
• Kristin Chenoweth as Easter
• Corbin Bernsen as Vulcan, a new character created by Gaiman specifically for the series and described as having "bound himself to guns".
• Jeremy Davies as Jesus
• Beth Grant as Jack

Episodes

</ref> | DirectedBy = David Slade | WrittenBy = Bryan Fuller & Michael Green | OriginalAirDate = | Viewers = | ShortSummary = | LineColor = 040404 }} }}

Development

Production

In 2011, American Gods author Neil Gaiman stated at the Edinburgh International Book Festival that HBO had expressed an interest in adapting the novel into a television series. In March 2013 Gaiman spoke of the project's progress at the Cambridge International Student Film Festival, and confirmed that the prospective series' opening episode would "contain new elements and details" while still remaining "a lot like the opening chapters of the book". He also commented that the book would only make up the first two seasons of the show and that he was still working on the pilot script, as his first script was not close enough to his book for HBO's satisfaction. However, in November 2013 Gaiman announced on Reddit that the TV series is still in the works but no longer at HBO.

In 2014 HBO's president of programming Michael Lombardo revealed that the project had been abandoned because they could not get the script right: "We tried three different writers, we put a lot of effort into it. Some things just don't happen."

In February 2014, Fremantle Media acquired the rights to adapt the novel as a fantasy drama series. In July 2014, it was announced that Starz would be developing the series with Bryan Fuller and Michael Green.

Speaking of the series, Fuller stated that it would "[follow] the events of the books but expanding those events, and expanding the point of view to go above and beyond Shadow and Wednesday." Permission has been given for the series to incorporate elements from the book's companion, Anansi Boys. Fuller also confirmed that Gaiman is "very involved" with the production and expressed his hope that Gaiman would write an episode himself.

On June 16, 2015, Starz officially announced that it had greenlit the series. Showrunner Bryan Fuller estimated in May 2015 that the show would likely air in "late 2016"; however, it is set to premiere in April 2017, and the first season will consist of eight episodes. The shooting was scheduled to begin on March 1, 2016 in Toronto and continue until September.

During an interview with Neil Gaiman on June 24, 2016, he discussed plans for future seasons of the show beyond the first, should it be continued, and noting that the first season only covers the first third of the novel. The second season is intended to cover the Lakeside section of the novel, and "a big pivotal thing that happens to Mr. Wednesday" will likely be a season finale for either the second or third season.

Casting

On January 28, 2016, Ricky Whittle was cast as the lead character, Shadow Moon. On March 2, 2016, it was announced that Ian McShane had been cast as Mr. Wednesday. It was later announced on March 17, 2016 that Emily Browning will play Laura Moon, Shadow's wife. On March 23, 2016 it was announced that Sean Harris, Yetide Badaki and Bruce Langley would play the respective roles of Mad Sweeney, Bilquis and Technical Boy. On April 14, 2016, Jonathan Tucker and Crispin Glover were cast as Low Key Lyesmith and Mr. World. On April 21, 2016, Cloris Leachman was cast as Zorya Vechernyaya, Peter Stormare as Czernobog, Chris Obi as Mr. Jaquel, and Mousa Kraish as the Jinn.

On May 6, 2016, it was announced that Sean Harris had departed the series due to personal reasons and the role of "Mad Sweeney" was being recast. On May 11, 2016, it was announced that Pablo Schreiber would take over the role of Mad Sweeney. In June 2016, it was announced that Gillian Anderson would portray Media. On June 15, 2016, it was announced that Omid Abtahi, Orlando Jones and Demore Barnes would join the cast as Salim, Mr. Nancy and Mr. Ibis, respectively.

On July 15, 2016, it was announced that Dane Cook was set to appear as Robbie, and a week later, Kristin Chenoweth as Easter.

Marketing

The first trailer for the series was released on July 22, 2016 at San Diego Comic-Con International.