Ian McShane To Play Mr. Wednesday in Starz's 'American Gods'

Ian McShane has been cast to play Mr. Wednesday in Starz's adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Hugo and Nebula-winning novel, American Gods. This is such a great and beautiful casting. How are we supposed to wait for a year for this?

Mr. Wednesday is described as a "powerful and charismatic — a Casanova of sorts — who is a con man and an incarnation of All-Father Odin, who's traveling America recruiting his fellow forgotten deities to wage an epic battle against the new American gods.". McShane is a brilliant choice to play this role. He was also cast for an unknown role in Game of Thrones Season 6 (Probably Euron Greyjoy, considering that he played Blackbeard in Pirates of the Carribean: On Strange Tides).

Executive producer Bryan Fuller tweeted the news with the right amount of enthusiasm:

Author Neil Gaiman made a statement about McShane's involvement:

"When you write a beloved character (beloved with, or despite, or because of all his faults) like Mr. Wednesday, you get to watch the Internet trying to cast the role. I've seen a hundred names suggested, but few make me grin like Ian McShane does. I've already been lucky enough to have him in one film (he was bright blue in it, animated, and probably Polish). Now I count myself even luckier: he's made the journey from Lovejoy to American Gods. Yesterday was Super Tuesday. Today is Wonderful Wednesday."

The story focuses on "a war brewing between old and new gods: the traditional gods of biblical and 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 (Ricky White), 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."

Production is expected to begin on April, and David Slade (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night) is set to direct the pilot episode and several other episodes.

American Gods is one of the greatest fantasy books of all time, so go read the book before the series comes out next year.

Source: Hollywoodreporter