A little over a year ago, Bryan Fuller was asked to step down as showrunner of Star Trek: Discovery due to CBS' frustration with the development on the series falling well behind schedule, not to mention clashes over the creative direction and the budget. Bryan Fuller was also simultaneously developing American Gods for Starz during this time, and he soon devoted his full attention to the Neil Gaiman series upon leaving Discovery. Now, Variety reports that Bryan Fuller, as well as co-showrunner Michael Green, have left American Gods for much the same reasons as his exit from Star Trek: Discovery a year ago. Oh boy.
FremantleMedia, who produces American Gods, had apparently been butting heads with the pair over the budget and creative direction of the series, with Bryan Fuller and Michael Green pushing for an increase in the budget for the series' second second. According to sources close to the production, the per-episode budget for the first season of American Gods stands at around $10 million, and the company wasn't about to increase it. Deadline adds that FremantleMedia felt as though work on the second season wasn't progressing as quickly as they hoped, but that more than half the scripts for the season have already been written. It's possible that Neil Gaiman may come on-board as a co-showrunner, but at this point, no replacements have been named.
Neither Bryan Fuller or Michael Green will be hurting for work as they both have other projects on the go, with Fuller developing a revival of Steven Spielberg's anthology series Amazing Stories for Apple, and Green set to pen a sequel to Kenneth Branagh's MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS.