Image Credit: Starz (via Entertainment Weekly)
Finally, after months of teases and cast announcements and interviews, we're now getting a first (absolutely fantastic) look at Starz's adaptation of Neil Gaiman's fantasy novel, American Gods.
Meet Shadow (Ricky Whittle), Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane), and Mad Sweeney (Pablo Schreiber), located in a crocodile-themed bar setting.
Check it out:
Image Credit: Starz (via Entertainment Weekly)
The first look is a familiar scene for fans of Neil Gaiman's instant-classic 2001 adult contemporary novel. Among the novel's first settings, Jack's Crocodile Bar is where Shadow first gets to demonstrate his strength and courage to his employer, Mr. Wednesday, by fist-fighting the leprechaun, Mad Sweeney.
In an interview with EW, executive producer, screenwriter, and showrunner Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies), who rejoins Heroes producer Michael Green for the adaptation, said that the scene is one they were most excited to shoot because of the aesthetics. He explained:
It was one of the sets that we were the most excited about and an opportunity to do a tonal landgrab for what we are and what the style of the show will be.
[Jack's] is a kind of hillbilly chic aesthetic for Shadow's entrée into the world of the gods.
Fuller adds that Mr. Wednesday, who in the books has always been morbidly comic, is a perfect fit for McShane, who is as "vibrant" and darkly funny as the character. He said:
I think the comedy and charm and ease of Wednesday's appeal is very well-suited for Ian McShane. He has a vibrancy as Wednesday that could have gone so many different ways in other actors' hands, but has such a specificity and reality, despite the situation at hand.
As for Whittle's Shadow, Fuller said the 34-year-old actor has been pleasant to work with, saying:
There's where Ricky has been such a boon. His experience of [the world of the gods] is very genuine and grounded, and we want to watch him be introduced to and beaten up by this new reality.
Last month, Neil Gaiman described in an interview how the series will "absolutely be its own thing," despite the author having the freedom to tell Fuller what he loves and what he doesn't love to be in included in the script. To Gaiman's involvement, Fuller said:
Neil created this wonderfully stuffed toy box filled with all sorts of cultural points of view on how American operates as a system, and that was so fascinating and mythological in and of itself.
Green also described how the superpowered beings in the series are unlike the superheroes we're usually seeing in other films and series. He said:
It's really much more of an immigration story than it is a god story.
One of the biggest challenges was stripping the idea of gods as X-Men or giant empowered creatures who stomp on cities and throw the oceans. We wanted them to be people with problems. It's not about lightning bolts – it's about the question of day-to-day survival.
Gaiman's novel tells the story of a battle between old, mythological gods and the new gods who symbolize America's fixation on technology, media, and wealth. Whittle's Shadow Moon gets the opportunity to work with McShane's enigmatic Mr. Wednesday, and the two eventually gets in the middle of a war between old and new gods.
Aside from Whittle, McShane, and Schreiber, American Gods' other stellar cast members include
Emily Browning as Shadow's wife Laura Moon, Crispin Glover and Jonathan Tucker as antagonists, Sean Harris, Yetide Badaki, Bruce Langley as three mystical beings, Gillian Anderson as Media, Orlando Jones as Mr. Nancy, and Demore Barnes as Mr. Ibis.
The pilot and additional episodes will be directed by David Slade (30 Days of Night and Hard Candy).
Now I'm just more hyped to see this series. Obviously, there's a lot of preparation being put into production and casting, and that can only lead to a brilliant show.
Starz's American Gods premieres in 2017.
Are you excited to see it?
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