Starz has given a series order to drama series American Gods, an adaptation of the urban fantasy novel of the same name written by Neil Gaiman. Bryan Fuller (Hannibal) and Michael Green (The River) will serve as writers, executive producers and showrunners for FremantleMedia North America.
American Gods centers on a war brewing between old and new gods: the traditional gods of biblical and mythological roots from around the world steadily losing believers to an upstart pantheon of gods reflecting society's modern love of money, technology, media, celebrity and drugs. The protagonist, Shadow Moon, is an ex-con who becomes bodyguard and traveling partner to Mr. Wednesday, a conman but in reality one of the older gods, on a cross-country mission to gather his forces in preparation for a battle with the new deities.
Joining Fuller, Green and Gaiman as executive producers are FremantleMedia North America's Craig Cegielski and Stefanie Berk. Ken Segna, Starz Vice President of Original Programming, will oversee the project for the network.
"Starz is committed to bringing American Gods to its legions of fans," said Chris Albrecht, Starz CEO. "With our partners at FremantleMedia and Bryan, Michael and Neil guiding the project, we hope to create a series that honors the book and does right by the fans, who have been casting it in their minds for years. The search for Shadow begins today!"
Added Gaiman: "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..."
