At one time it seemed a possibility that an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" would happen at HBO, but that project never came to fruition at the cable giant. But it's hard to keep an angry god down as it has been announced that the adaptation has now moved to Starz, and "Hannibal" executive producer Bryan Fuller is onboard to showrun.
Starz has announced a script to series development of FremantleMedia North America’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed urban fantasy novel "American Gods". The pilot script will be penned by Bryan Fuller (“Hannibal,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Heroes”) and Michael Green (“The River,” “Kings,” “Heroes”), who will also showrun the series. They will executive produce along with Gaiman. FremantleMedia North America will produce the series.
Commented Fuller…
"Neil Gaiman has created the holiest of holy toy boxes with American Gods and filled it with all manner of magical thing, born of new gods and old. Michael Green and I are thrilled to crack this toy box wide open and unleash the fantastical titans of heaven and earth and Neil's vividly prolific imagination."
The 2001 novel has been translated into over 30 languages and earned numerous accolades including Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker Awards for Best Novel. The plot posits a war brewing between old and new gods: The traditional gods of biblical and mythological roots from around the world are 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 con man but in reality one of the older gods, on a cross-country mission to gather his forces in preparation to battle the new deities.
Shadow is a man with a past. But now he wants nothing more than to live a quiet life with his wife and stay out of trouble. Until he learns that she's been killed in a terrible accident.
Flying home for the funeral, as a violent storm rocks the plane, a strange man in the seat next to him introduces himself. The man calls himself Mr. Wednesday, and he knows more about Shadow than is possible.
He warns Shadow that a far bigger storm is coming. And from that moment on, nothing will ever be the same…
FremantleMedia North America’s Thom Beers, Craig Cegielski, and Stefanie Berk will executive produce the series along with Bryan Fuller, Michael Green, and Neil Gaiman. Vice President of Original Programming Ken Segna will be the Starz executive in charge of "American Gods." Starz will retain all network pay TV and SVOD rights to the project. FremantleMedia will distribute the series worldwide.
No premiere date or casting has been announced, but you can bet we'll stay on top of it for you. Keep checking in!