The blood-drenched trailers for the Starz series American Gods are the most I have seen of that show, but I dug what I saw in those gory, very strange previews. I'm also a fan of several members of the cast that was assembled for it, which includes Ricky Whittle, Ian McShane, Emily Browning, Pablo Schreiber, Yetide Badaki, Bruce Langley, Crispin Glover, Orlando Jones, Gillian Anderson, Kristin Chenoweth, Jonathan Tucker, Cloris Leachman, Peter Stormare, and Corbin Bernsen. I just never got around to watching the show, which tends to happen with me and TV series.
The eight episode first season has run its course on Starz, and now work is underway on the second season… and during this process, the show has run into a bit of trouble.
Series creators and showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green have left American Gods after having disagreements with production company Fremantle Media over creative and especially budgetary issues. Each episode of American Gods' second season has a budget of $10 million, and Fuller and Green were reportedly wanting Fremantle to increase that per-episode budget. Fremantle didn't want to make the show even costlier, which I find to be understandable. $10 million per episode is already a lot.
Based on a novel by Neil Gaiman,
“American Gods” posits a different kind of war brewing—one between Old Gods and New. The traditional Old Gods, with mythological roots from around the world, fear irrelevance as their believers die off or are seduced by the money, technology, and celebrity offered by the New Gods. Shadow Moon (Whittle) is an ex-con who, left adrift by the recent death of his wife, becomes bodyguard and traveling partner to conman Mr. Wednesday (McShane). But in truth, Mr. Wednesday is a powerful old deity, on a cross-country mission to build an army and reclaim his lost glory.
Fuller and Green leave with half of season two's episodes already written. Fremantle will now have to find a replacement, and Gaiman – who is currently working as showrunner on an event series adaptation of his novel Good Omens (which he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett) – has ruled himself out as an option. Being a showrunner is a one and done thing for him.
We'll keep you updated on American Gods as Fremantle deals with this situation.