American Gods deifies Orlando Jones and Demore Barnes

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Starz's American Gods still isn't done casting, even though it has been shooting in Canada for a couple weeks at this point. The newest members of the massive ensemble are Demore Barnes (12 Monkeys, Hemlock Grove) and Orlando Jones, who plays Frank Irving on Sleepy Hollow and has also appeared on MADtv, Pushing Daisies, and the films BEDAZZLED and FROM DUSK TILL DAWN 3: THE HANGMAN'S DAUGHTER.

Jones will be playing Mr. Nancy, "the old African trickster god more commonly known as Anansi, and one of Mr. Wednesday’s oldest confidantes. Like Wednesday, Nancy is ready to bring this new America (and its new gods) to its knees, desperate to light a fire and watch the whole world burn."

Barnes plays Mr. Ibis, "the keeper of stories, past and present, and he recounts them with great relish. His old fashioned sensibilities do not preclude a wry wit."

Bryan Fuller (Hannibal) and Michael Green (The River) are writing and serving as the showrunners. The plot centers on:

a war brewing between old and new gods: the traditional gods of mythological roots from around the world steadily losing believers to an upstart pantheon of gods reflecting society’s modern love of money, technology, media, celebrity and drugs. Its protagonist, Shadow Moon, is an ex-con who becomes bodyguard and traveling partner to Mr. Wednesday, a conman but in reality one of the older gods, on a cross-country mission to gather his forces in preparation to battle the new deities.  

The series will star Ian McShane as Mr. Wednesday / the Norse god Odin; Ricky Whittle as Shadow Moon; Emily Browning as Shadow's wife, Laura Moon; Pablo Schreiber as down-on-his-luck leprechaun Mad Sweeney, Yetide Badaki as goddess of love Bilquis; Bruce Langley as New God Technical Boy; Crispin Glover as New Gods coalition leader Mr. World; and Jonathan Tucker as Shadow's confidante Low Key Lyesmith.

Also starring: Cloris Leachman as Zorya Vechernyaya, the eldest of three sisters who watch over the constellations; Peter Stormare as Slavic god of darkness and evil Czernobog; Chris Obi as Egyptian god of the death Anubis; and Mousa Kraish as The Jinn, a mythical creature of the fire who understands a person’s deepest desires better than they do. Gillian Anderson will be playing Media, the mouthpiece for the New Gods.