Neil Gaiman is writing episodes of the ‘American Gods’ adaptation
Neil Gaiman is writing episodes of the American Gods adaptation for Starz. Which makes a lot of sense to me. I mean, how do you instill faith in an understandably cautious fanbase regarding an adaptation? You bring in the source material’s creator. Well, at least that instills faith in me.
Starz’s American Gods adaptation has proven equal parts exciting for finally escaping development hell, and troubling by Bryan Fuller’s diminished focus on Hannibal. The balance may have shifted back to excitement however, as Fuller reveals that American Gods author Neil Gaiman himself will pen a few episodes.
In addition to discussing potential opportunities for Jodie Foster to direct Hannibal, Bryan Fuller took time out from the Saturn awards to speak to Collider, revealing that apart from he and co-showrunner Michael Green working on the first two American Gods scripts, author Neil Gaiman will also apparently contribute more than one episode. “It’s gonna have scope, as it should,” said Fuller of the series with Gaiman’s involvement.
For those unfamiliar with Sandman creator Gaiman’s novel, American Gods follows ex-convict Shadow Moon, who partners up with mysterious con-man Mr. Wednesday (secretly a god himself), becoming embroiled in a battle between classic mythological gods who have fallen out of style, and the “new” American gods based on greed, technology and celebrity. A few years ago, HBO had in mind to develop the drama with Tom Hanks’ Playtone, though the project eventually fell through.
Hannibal creator Fuller and Heroes alum Michael Green will write and and showrun the series, with Gaiman acting as EP, produced by FremantleMedia North America. Production will begin upon the casting of “Shadow Moon,” to which Starz has surprisingly encouraged fans to tweet suggestions to @AmericanGodsSTZ and @STARZ_Channel with the hashtag “#CastingShadow.”
American Gods looks to be in good hands with Bryan Fuller, Michael Green and Neil Gaiman, but what can we expect from the author’s official involvement writing a TV adaptation of his novel?