A couple of images from Bryan Fuller’s American Gods miniseries have made their way online: See Ricky Whittle as Shadow, Ian McShane as Mr Wednesday, and much more!
In early 2017, Neil Gaiman’s beloved novel American Gods is getting the TV treatment, in the form of a miniseries on Starz.
Hannibal showrunner Bryan Fuller is taking on the massive story, with The 100‘s Ricky Whittle playing lead character Shadow, and Ian McShane playing his mysterious benefactor Mr Wednesday.
The novel tracks Shadow, an ex-convict, as he travels across the American Midwest to mingle with gods and men alike, attempting to unravel mystery upon mystery while drawing closer to the inevitable confrontation between the old gods and the new.
Entertainment Weekly has a couple of exclusive first-look images from the series, that reveal Shadow, Mr Wednesday, and the leprechaun Mad Sweeney (Pablo Schreiber) in Jack’s Crocodile Bar:
This is most likely a scene from an early episode, as it depicts the first meeting between Shadow and Mad Sweeney. Shadow is drunk, and has to fight Sweeney in order to prove himself to Wednesday.
Bryan Fuller’s distinct visual style is immediately evident here, with the dark-yet-animated look of Jack’s Crocodile Bar reminiscent of both Pushing Daisies and Hannibal.
Fuller says of the setting, “[Jack’s] is a kind of hillbilly chic aesthetic for Shadow’s entrée into the world of the gods … 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.”
Related: American Gods casts Sleepy Hollow’s Orlando Jones as Mr Nancy
Fuller and co-creator Michael Green also comment on the main characters, and how the actors interpret what’s on the page. “Ricky has been such a boon,” says Green. “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.”
Each day on set I get more & more excited about this project! Incredible writing,casting,crew,makeup,costume,fx- @AmericanGodsSTZ ???
— Ricky Whittle (@MrRickyWhittle) June 17, 2016
On Ian McShane, Fuller says, “I think the comedy and charm and ease of Wednesday’s appeal is very well-suited for [him]. 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.”
Finally, on the tone of the series, Green says, “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.”
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