During his presentation at this year’s Television Critics Association press junket, Starz CEO Chris Albrecht was open about the network’s desire to keep the success it saw with the first season of American Gods moving forward as it looks to the future. Ideally, Albrecht said, American Gods would go on indefinitely.
The first season of American Gods teemed with great introductory scenes that made you want to know more about its beguiling characters. And no one got a better intro than Bilquis, the love goddess played by Yetide Badaki.
Starz’s American Gods series isn’t an entirely faithful adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s original novel as much as it’s a distinct piece piece of visual art largely defined by its bold and arresting visuals.
Most times when we see the personification of death in fiction, it’s presented as a cold or grim persona. Not so for Anubis on the TV show adaptation of American Gods. Here, the Egyptian god of the afterlife is stoic but unexpectedly warm; he has a job to do, one that fills most people with dread, but he doesn’t seem…
Quick, think of the character you hate the most on American Gods. Did you answer Mad Sweeney? Well, the guy who plays him has a strong argument for changing your mind about the oversized wee man of the hills.
One of the best things about the first season of American Gods was how its thematic ambitions came to life inside the cast’s stellar performances. Things often got weird and elliptical on the adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s 2001 novel, but you couldn’t stop watching because of the excellent acting on display. Here’s how…
When you first get into American Gods and begin to wrap your head around its central premise—that gods are real people who feed on human belief—there’s one god in particular who’s conspicuously missing from Neil Gaiman’s original book and most of the first season of Starz’s television adaptation: Jesus Christ.
American Gods’ debut season has spent every episode telling us that gods walk among us. The final installment of season one finally shows us how powerful they can be and just how far they’ll go to survive. Oh, and Shadow at long last has a come-to-Jesus moment. Actually, at least two come-to-Jesus moments, by my count.
Laura and Mad Sweeney—two of the most messed-up characters on American Gods—spend some quality time together in the show’s seventh episode, and we see how the big ol’ wee person has done both admirable and terrible things over the last 300 years.
We’ve known for a while that Emily Browning, who plays Shadow Moon’s (Ricky Whittle) semi-devoted wife Laura, would be showing up as another character later in the season. Now we’ve got our first look at Browning as the young and pretty thief, Essie.
Despite the fact that this last weekend’s episode of American Gods (“A Murder of Gods”) featured a bloody massacre and multiple people falling into vats of molten steel, there was only one particular scene that truly scared me.
In the TV series adaptation of American Gods, Mr. Wednesday and Shadow Moon criss-cross all over America to recruit old-school celestial beings for a coming conflict with deities of the modern day. This week’s episode had them meeting with Vulcan and seeing how the god of the forge has reinvented himself for modern…
A few episodes back on American Gods, the mysterious Mr. Wednesday told main character Shadow Moon about the Sons of God: “Well, you got your white Jesuit-style Jesus, you got your black African Jesus, you got your brown Mexican Jesus, you got your swarthy Greek Jesus.” This Sunday, audiences will meet one of these…
It’s to be expected that in adapting a book into a television show, some new characters are going to show up. On American Gods, Vulcan (Corbin Bernsen) is now in the very interesting position of being a old god who has found a way to glut his need for worship in America as, partially, a new god.
Shadow Moon has been working with a mysterious con man who’s more than he seems. He might have made snow fall from the sky just by thinking about it. Now, the worst thing yet: a god who can get him arrested like it’s no big deal. American Gods is dropping that Shadow is cosmically important in some way he doesn’t…
The first time we saw Gillian Anderson as Media—in episode two—she appeared in the form of Lucille Ball and offered to go topless for American Gods’ main character Shadow Moon. Next week, she’ll be showing up as an homage to rock legend David Bowie and giving another latter-day deity some grief.
On cable TV, we have become used to seeing a lot of sex and nudity on certain networks and in certain TV shows. Game of Thrones is the most famous of the lot, causing the term “sexposition” to be coined for how it paired important information with sex and nudity to keep the audience engaged. Sex is titillation,…
So far, there hasn’t been a ton of menace on American Gods. Creeping dread? Yes. Believable techno-mystical threats? Sure. But the Starz series’ most formidable antagonist shows up in next week’s episode, when latter-day deity Mr. World shows up to talk to Shadow and Wednesday.
Last week’s episode of American Gods introduced viewers to an Egyptian god who shepherds souls to the afterlife. This week’s episode focuses on a mortal who’s slipped the bonds of death, adding important depth to a character who’s only been seen in flashbacks and dream sequences. The late Laura Moon is more alive on…
Universal might be close to finding its Frankenstein’s monster. Go behind the scenes of Aquman with new filming footage. Patty Jenkins discusses Diana’s view of mankind in Wonder Woman. Plus, Cheryl Blossom’s furious transformation on Riverdale, and new looks at Supergirl’s finale and the next episode of Doctor Who.…
