Dane Cook has joined the cast of Starz’ American Gods, playing Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle)’s’ friend Robbie.

American Gods, the Starz adaptation series of Neil Gaiman’s popular novel of the same name, has boosted its star power with Dane Cook.

Deadline reports that Cook will play Robbie, Shadow Moon’s best friend whose relationship with Shadow’s wife Laura (Emily Browning) kickstarts the events of the story.

Related: First look at American Gods reveals Ricky Whittle’s Shadow, Ian McShane’s Mr Wednesday, and more

Interestingly, Robbie is a minor character in the book, who only appears in Shadow’s memories. Since Dane Cook is relatively well-known, we wonder if his role has perhaps been expanded a bit for Bryan Fuller’s TV adaptation.

In the novel, most of Robbie’s story plays out while Shadow Moon is still in prison; after he goes home, Shadow has an important conversation with Robbie’s wife Audrey before leaving town for good.

The impressive cast also boasts Ian McShane as Mr Wednesday, with Gillian Anderson, Yetide Badaki, Orlando Jones, Peter Stormare, Jonathan Tucker and Pablo Schreiber making up the eclectic cast of American gods.

The 10-episode miniseries is set to debut in 2017. It’ll tell the story of Shadow, an ex-convict who is swept into a war between the old gods and the new, having to navigate his grief over his dead wife as well as the new mysteries and dangers he’s made an unwilling part of.

The story sees him trek across the United States, finding new friends and enemies wherever he goes.