Fans of Neil Gaiman’s magnum opus American Gods have got reason to rejoice: the British author will pen some of the episodes himself for its television adaptation. Showrunner Bryan Fuller revealed Gaiman’s contributions while speaking to Collider. “We are cranking away. We have the first two scripts written already, and it’s going to be very exciting. It’s wonderful to be working with Neil Gaiman. Neil Gaiman’s going to be writing episodes of the show, so it’s gonna have scope, as it should.”
With one of the largest and most devoted fan bases of any modern fantasy author, film adaptations of Neil Gaiman’s works tend to be tentatively received by lovers of the books. American Gods, one of Neil’s most acclaimed novels, has been under intense scrutiny from this said group of admirers since Starz first announced that it would be producing a series based on the prize-winning piece of fiction. Now, Gaiman joins an illustrious roster of authors who have written episodes of TV shows adapted from their works. A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin has himself penned several episodes of HBO’s Game of Thrones, as has Stephen King for Under the Dome.
The critically acclaimed American Gods has been translated into 30 languages and feted with Hugo and Nebula awards, high honors in the fantasy genre. First published in 2001, it tells the story of a brewing war between old and new gods, with traditional gods from myth and religions steadily losing believers to deities that reflect more modern concerns, such as love of money, technology, media, celebrity and drugs. The book centers on Shadow Moon, an ex-con hired as a bodyguard by one of those older gods trying to push back against the new gods’ successes. American Gods was given a straight-to-series order by Starz, and is currently casting Shadow Moon.
Neil himself, who has been hesitant to allow his work to be brought to the visual medium before, gave his blessing to the project when it was first announced by Starz, stated a press release.[blockquote type=”left”]“I am thrilled, scared, delighted, nervous and a ball of glorious anticipation. The team that is going to bring the world of American Gods to the screen has been assembled like the master criminals in a caper movie: I’m relieved and confident that my baby is in good hands. Now we finally move to the exciting business that fans have been doing for the last dozen years: casting our Shadow, our Wednesday, our Laura…”[/blockquote]
There’s no indication just which episodes Gaiman will write, but he confirmed that they would be “further down the line.”
@Sunlionheart no, it’s Bryan fuller and michael green. But I will write some, down the line.
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) June 28, 2015
