At the NYCC panel, American Gods fans got their first look at season 2! Check out the shots of House on the Rock and all the new and returning faces.

American Gods season 2 is still a long way off, returning to Starz in 2019. Outside of some Instagram and Twitter photos, fans are starved for a taste of what the highly anticipated second season will bring.

Luckily, the panel delivered at NYCC with the first trailer for the new season!

‘American Gods’ season 2 trailer

5 things we learned about ‘American Gods’ season 2

The cast assembled on the stage two rows deep. The God Squad consisted of Neil Gaiman, Ricky Whittle (Shadow Moon), Emily Browning (Laura Moon), Pablo Schreiber (Mad Sweeney), Yetide Badaki (Bilquis), Orlando Jones (Mr. Nancy), Demore Barnes (Mr. Ibis), Mousa Kraish (The Jinn), Omid Abtahi (Salim), Crispin Glover (Mr. World), and Bruce Langley (Techinical Boy). The panel was moderated by Patton Oswalt.

Gaiman started off the panel by mentioning that, regrettably, Ian McShane texted him to say that he could not attend due to having some kidney stones zapped. His presence was felt, especially after such an explosive trailer, but the rest of the cast made up for it with some insights to the stories they are able to tell and some humorous bits.

Here’s what we learned about American Gods season 2.

1. Where are we going?

All reads lead to Cairo and the series will get us there in season 2. Plus, expect to see a trip to a funeral home, and, of course, House on the Rock. Shown in the trailer, the cast and crew made the trip up to Wisconsin to film on location. While no one is allowed to ride the carousel, Gaiman said that a lucky few of the cast were allowed to take a spin for filming purposes.

Unfortunately, and fans of the book will likely moan, we will not reach Lakeside in the second season.

2. Laura and Mad Sweeney time

Gaiman teased that Laura and Mad Sweeney have a bit of an adventure as a pair. Pablo Schreiber mentioned that seeing his role go from two mentions in the book to three years on set has been an honor. Later in the roundtables, Schreiber also confirmed that there will be a Mad Sweeney episode this season!

3. We’ll meet a different Tech Boy this season

Be prepared to see a few variations of Tech Boy, including one from the 1930s. Gaiman dubs Langley’s character Telephone Boy, who supersedes Telegraph Boy. As rapidly as technology changes, Langley is looking forward to seeing just how different his persona could be season to season.

4. Green screen acting is weird

Ricky Whittle treated fans to a master class in green screen acting. Responding to a question about acting without visuals, Whittle explained that it’s mostly the director giving verbal direction while the actors respond to prompts. Acting through the buffalo encounter, Whittle kept his expressions focused and only asked that the people in post make it work.

5. Things are going to get much worse

There is no follow up with the line “before they get better” here. Season 2 rallies the gods of old with Shadow Moon tentatively by their side. We haven’t gotten much of Shadow as a true believer, but now that Wednesday’s true identity is revealed, season 2 will really start to see Shadow take action in his acceptance of this new world.

American Gods returns to Starz in 2019.