Did you love the premiere of American Gods? You haven’t seen anything yet. Here’s a preview of what’s coming this season!

The American Gods premiere is an exquisite masterpiece. It sets the stage for the humor, gore, and overall unpredictability of the series. For readers of the book, it breathes life into the words set down by Neil Gaiman.

And for newcomers, American Gods is an unyielding assault on the mind — it demands attention and rewards those who give it proper due diligence.

All of that is obvious from the opening title sequence through the story of Odin’s “Coming to America.”

’American Gods’ preview

What to watch out for this season on ‘American Gods’

Ricky Whittle and Ian McShane

The hardest thing to balance in American Gods is the humor with the devastation and loss of purpose weighing on Shadow. One way that the creators overcame this obstacle — casting Ricky Whittle. It’s incredible how Whittle carries Shadow’s grief, anger, and suspicion without saying a word.

But that is only one piece of the puzzle. Shadow needs strong scene partners to bring out the worst and best of himself. Enter Ian McShane’s Mr. Wednesday and Pablo Schreiber’s Mad Sweeney.

Mr. Wednesday’s offer at the Crocodile bar is the perfect example of Whittle’s ability to play against Ian McShane’s Old God swagger. Shadow’s trapped in his own mind of non-belief. He deals in facts and figures — hence why he stuck to history and math books in prison. The odds are always calculated in his head.

And he uses that logic to fight for the higher ground in his conversation with Wednesday. But nothing is as it seems when you’re dealing with the Old Gods. So when you are faced with a reality where not even solid, calculated facts are true — what can you believe in?

Keep an eye on these two. You will not be disappointed.

Sensational visuals

Fans of Hannibal were likely not surprised that the opening sequence saw members of the Viking crew gouging out their eyes and cutting one another in half. But even for avid fans of the cannibal cult sensation, there is room for surprise. For example, watching the blood from Tech Boy’s henchmen rain down as Shadow hangs from a tree.

It’s the Bryan Fuller way, after all.

But in terms of actively striving for the “shock factor,” Bryan Fuller and Michael Green made it clear during a recent press junket that they are not in the business of making something sensational for the sake of saying they did. “It wasn’t our instinct to be inflammatory in any way, it was just about authenticity,” says Fuller about American Gods. “I’m glad that it freaks people out because that’s a good reaction, but we weren’t little devils trying to get away with things. We were just trying to tell the story in the most authentic way that we could.”

Michael Green, Fuller’s co-showrunner, adds that finding a home at Starz made the most sense to both creators. “They were fans of the show… they wanted to engage in this type of programming, they liked the literary auspices. They liked the visual potential, they liked that we wanted to make it funny,” says Green. “It just seemed like a common goal of taking anything that we were going to touch and celebrate it as much as possible and do the most artful version of something.”

An engaged audience is a happy audience

What will make American Gods the sensation it deserves to be, relies on the audiences’ willingness to give it attention. “There is a ridiculous amount of competition for people’s time and attention,” comments Fuller. “We wanted to make sure that it was as vividly and sumptuously produced as it possibly could be, so that we could have a seat at the table in the new dawning age of prestige television.”

We think their seat is secure.

One scene that warrants their artful touch — Bilquis’ introduction. As we mentioned in an earlier teaser, the women of American Gods steal the show. They are messy, complicated, hurt, vulnerable. And when you have Yetide Badaki on screen swallowing a man with her vagina… well, you can’t help but want to know more.

The work is done on Green, Fuller, and the entire cast and crews’ end. What we as an audience do with it, remains to be seen.

’American Gods’ episode 2, ‘The Secret of Spoons’

Every week Hypable will provide an in-depth analysis provided by two of our writers. Check out the breakdown of episode 1, “The Bone Orchard.”

Episode 2, “The Secret of Spoons” synopsis reads: As Mr. Wednesday begins recruitment for the coming battle, Shadow Moon travels with him to Chicago, and agrees to a very high stakes game of checkers with the old Slavic god, Czernobog.

Are you ready for more ‘American Gods’?

American Gods season 1, episode 2, “The Secret of Spoons,” airs Sunday, May 7 at 9:00 p.m. ET on Starz. Catch up now on the Starz app!