The on-off saga surrounding Neil Gaiman’s American Gods TV adaptation is nearing a conclusion as the series began casting for parts, after securing its ideal showrunning team.
Gaiman said he was “confident that my baby is in good hands” after Starz, the premium cable channel that is now adapting the book after HBO pulled out last year, confirmed it had started the casting process for lead character Shadow Moon.
Neil Gaiman's American Gods picked up by Starz for TV series adaptation
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The news comes after Starz confirmed – last July – that Hannibal showrunner Bryan Fuller and Michael Green will helm and write the series.
Fuller and Green, who worked together on Heroes, added in a joint statement: “Almost 15 years ago, Neil Gaiman filled a toy box with gods and magic and we are thrilled to finally crack it open and play.”
“I am thrilled, scared, delighted, nervous and a ball of glorious anticipation,” said Gaiman in a statement.
He added: “The team that is going to bring the world of American Gods to the screen has been assembled like the master criminals in a caper movie.”
The announcement is the latest chapter in the American Gods story, which started when HBO began and then dropped the project in early 2014, leaving FremantleMedia – the company producing the series for Starz – to pick it up and attempt to bring it to the small screen.
American Gods is one of Gaiman’s most well-loved works and has been translated into more than 30 languages. Gaiman’s Anansi Boys is also in development to become a BBC mini-series.
So who would you like to play Shadow/Wednesday and the rest of the motley crew?
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Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag and start slitting throats.
- H.L Mencken
I Became insane with long Intervals of horrible Sanity
All Religion, my friend is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination and poetry.
- Edgar Allan Poe
I'm not too impressed with the choice of the writers, to be honest. Wasn't a huge fan of Hannibal nor of Heroes.
In order of as I thought of them:
Cernobog: Gene Hackman. He just fits too well, imho.
Shadow: Javier Bardem. I don't know why, but I always figured Shadow to look like Chigurh.
Sam: Probably Ellen Page?
Lauren: can't really care about her.
Low-Key: Eh? John Wesley Ship?
Mr Wood/town/whatever: Sean Bean.
Mr Wednesday: Rutger Hauer.
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We have laboured long to build a heaven, only to find it populated with horrors.
Wednesday: I've long pictured the figure as Liam Neeson. Normally he's punches-with-wolves Liam Neeson, but Gaiman's version is more sex-with-Claudia-Schiffer-in-every-room-of-the-house Liam Neeson.
Shadow: Big guy, racially ambiguous, quiet but intense... Jason Momoa.
After seeing him in Banshee, I would love to see Geno Segers as Shadow (he played Chayton Littlestone, for fellow watchers of the show). The only thing I'm unsure of is how much of a dramatic range he has, since it wasn't really pushed too far in Banshee, but he's definitely got the look I pictured when reading the book - hulking, quiet, with a bit of a Native American-ish look about him. I haven't given too much thought as to how I'd like to see the rest of the main characters cast.
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There's one at the door, at the gate to damnation...
Is it thief, thug or whore? There's one at the door...
And there's room for one more till the end of creation. Neil Gaiman, Sandman #4 - A Hope in Hell
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So who would you like to play Shadow/Wednesday and the rest of the motley crew?
- H.L Mencken
I Became insane with long Intervals of horrible Sanity
All Religion, my friend is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination and poetry.
- Edgar Allan Poe
The Crafters' Rules Guru
In order of as I thought of them:
Cernobog: Gene Hackman. He just fits too well, imho.
Shadow: Javier Bardem. I don't know why, but I always figured Shadow to look like Chigurh.
Sam: Probably Ellen Page?
Lauren: can't really care about her.
Low-Key: Eh? John Wesley Ship?
Mr Wood/town/whatever: Sean Bean.
Mr Wednesday: Rutger Hauer.
Shadow: Big guy, racially ambiguous, quiet but intense... Jason Momoa.
Low-Key: Ginger, friendly, disarming... Damien Lewis.
Sam: A pugnacious chatterbox. Jennifer Lawrence. Realistic-budget alternative: Allison Scagliotti.
Czernobog: Mickey Rourke.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
Is it thief, thug or whore? There's one at the door...
And there's room for one more till the end of creation.
Neil Gaiman, Sandman #4 - A Hope in Hell