American Gods is an American television series based on the novel of the same name, written by Neil Gaiman and originally published in 2001.
The television series was developed by Bryan Fuller and Michael Green for the premium cable network Starz.
Fuller and Green are the showrunners for the series.
Gaiman serves as an executive producer along with Fuller, Green, Craig Cegielski, Stefanie Berk, and Thom Beers.
The first episode premiered on the Starz network and through their streaming application on April 30, 2017.
In May 2017, the series was renewed for a second season.
== Premise == The series focuses on Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle), a man serving three years in prison.
With only days remaining in his sentence, Shadow is given an unexpected early release after his beloved wife Laura is killed.
Taking a plane back home to her funeral, Shadow finds himself next to a man named Wednesday (Ian McShane), who offers Shadow a job.
Wednesday appears to be nothing but a con artist who needs Shadow as a bodyguard, but is in fact the god Odin.
Wednesday is making his way across America, gathering all the old gods, who have now incorporated themselves into American life, to confront the New Gods, including Media (Gillian Anderson) and Technical Boy (Bruce Langley), who grow stronger.
== Cast ==   === Main === Ricky Whittle as Shadow Moon, a former convict who becomes Mr. Wednesday's bodyguard.
Emily Browning as Laura Moon, Shadow Moon's wife.
Crispin Glover as Mr. World, the New God of globalization, the leader of the New Gods.
Bruce Langley as Technical Boy, the New God of technology.
Yetide Badaki as Bilquis, an Old Goddess of love.
Pablo Schreiber as Mad Sweeney, a leprechaun in the employ of Mr. Wednesday who has trouble coming to terms with his lost charm.
Ian McShane as Mr. Wednesday, a con artist and the Old God Odin.
=== Recurring === Jonathan Tucker as Low Key Lyesmith, a confidante of Shadow's in prison.
Cloris Leachman as Zorya Vechernyaya, "the Evening Star", the eldest of three sisters who watch the stars to guard against forgotten horrors.
Peter Stormare as Czernobog, Slavic god of darkness and evil who suspects Mr. Wednesday's motives and is reluctant to lend his aid.
Chris Obi as Mr. Jacquel, the Egyptian god of the dead Anubis.
Mousa Kraish as the Jinn, a mythical being of fire who, fearing for his safety, considers fleeing the United States.
Gillian Anderson as Media, the public face and "mouthpiece" of the New Gods.
Omid Abtahi as Salim, a foreigner who is "one half of a pair of star-crossed lovers".
Orlando Jones as Mr. Nancy, the African trickster god Anansi.
Demore Barnes as Mr. Ibis, the keeper of stories past and present, Thoth.
Dane Cook as Robbie, Shadow's best friend.
Kristin Chenoweth as Easter, Germanic goddess of the dawn.
Martha Kelly as Zorya Utrennyaya, "the Morning Star", the middle silent sister of the Zorya.
Erika Kaar as Zorya Polunochnaya, "the Midnight Star", the youngest of the Zorya sisters who sleeps during the day and only appears late at night.
She guides Shadow and sets him on his path.
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, the overly empathetic Son of God who had only a minor mention in the book.
Beth Grant as Jack, the owner of the bar where Shadow meets Mr. Wednesday.
Conphidance as Okoye, scarred slave who leads a revolution.
== Episodes ==   == 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.
In November 2013 Gaiman announced on Reddit that the TV series was 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.
Fuller stated that the series would be "[following] 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 premiered 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.
Regarding the sexual content on the show, Green stated that while the book contains sexual content, "our sexual content, when it was portrayed, was artful.
By that, we mean that it was essential to character, or essential to story.
That it was as beautiful [as] anything else we were gonna try to portray in the show.
Which is to say, if you're going to define gratuitous sexuality as sexuality that can be cut out and not diminish the final episode in any way, we weren't gonna do that.
We wanted it to be something that was essential."
He also added that Starz wasn't "shy about nudity".
The third episode features a gay scene between a businessman named Salim and a Jinn.
Fuller admitted he wasn't concerned with the explicit sexual content that was featured in the scene, stating: "We wanted to tell a very graphic story with the sex and sexuality.
And also tell a tale where a man comes from a country where homosexuality is punishable by death.
For him most sexual experiences [would be] back-alley blowjobs, so the Jinn is making love to him probably for the first time in his life so he can experience sexual love.
It's an amazing, beautiful experience for a human being to have particularly when you consider how many men, women and genders in-between, don't, or can't, because of where they come from."
Omid Abtahi, who portrays Salim, commented on the relationship, "I think love in any form, man/man, woman/man, woman/woman, whatever, is a beautiful thing.
I would love to live in a world where people are not thrown off by that.
So the way you do it is by exposing them to it, and normalizing it.
Yes, it might be a little graphic for some people but it's natural.
There's no hate.
We're not trying to offend anybody.
It's love."
Fuller also demanded a reshoot of the scene, claiming it wasn't "gay enough".
On May 10, 2017, the series was renewed for a second season.
=== Writing ===
Fuller stated that he wanted the Old Gods to be portrayed as gritty and rustic to "demonstrate the well-worn aspects of their religion and the consequences of going without faith for so long" while the New Gods are portrayed slick and updated with their technology to illuminate "how valuable and pertinent they are, in their own religions."
Neil Gaiman also wrote episodes of the series.
=== 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.
== Broadcast == American Gods premieres each week in the U.S. on the Starz app, before airing the same day on Starz at 9:00 pm (Eastern).
Each episode becomes available internationally on Amazon Video the day after the U.S. broadcast.
== Reception ==   === Critical response === The first season of American Gods has received positive reviews from critics.
On Metacritic, it has a score of 77 out of 100 based on 36 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Terri Schwartz from IGN gave the first episode a rating of 9/10, saying, "American Gods doesn't pull any punches with its series premiere, delivering a powerful and visually stunning first episode.
Variety said "American Gods is kind of astonishing.
Fuller takes more risks than nearly anyone else on television, and at the very least, American Gods is different, using the violence and sex of premium cable towards exploring the mysterious underpinnings of faith.
That alone sets it curiously apart."
Ben Travers of IndieWire gave the pilot a B+ and wrote, "Imagine the most luscious dream sequences from Hannibal and extend them for an entire episode: That's the vibe of American Gods, as every production detail comes together to create a world we've never seen before.
Director David Slade and cinematographer Jo Williams, who worked on the first two episodes, deserve immense credit for pulling off such a dazzling array of iconic imagery.
Creating an eye-catching fiery-eyed buffalo is one thing, but finding equal inspiration from an old gravel road or rolling clouds filled with rain is quite another.
American Gods pulls it all together to craft an American landscape filled with familiar figures, but stylized like never before."
The Guardian's Rebecca Nicholson wrote, "For what is obviously such a grand and ambitious undertaking, though, there is something oddly familiar about American Gods.
Perhaps it is simply one of those accidents of timing, but in recent months there have been a number of shows along roughly the same lines: violent, moody and handsome, so sure of their own good looks that they lack the inclination to explain anything about themselves.
Fans of Legion and Preacher, in particular, will be happy to add another clever-clever supernatural show to their library, while fans of the book may be delighted that it has found its way to the screen at last.
But it may take patience for those viewers who fall somewhere in between."
=== Ratings ===   == References ==   == External links == Official website American Gods at the Internet Movie Database
