American gods imagines a world where all the gods you’ve heard of are real, and when America was colonized the people brought their gods with them. These gods are still around some are fighting for attention others just have normal jobs and are trying to get by. The story follows an ex-con who ends up acting as a bodyguard for one of these gods as he gathers allies to confront the new gods of America. In the show gods need attention to survive, some of the older gods are at risk of disappearing because people forget about them, or they have been replaced by newer gods like TV or cars.

The series has been developed by Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies, Hannibal) and Michael Green (Smallville, Heroes). Green also co-wrote Alien: Covenant.

What is the American Gods release date?

The first episode of American Gods was shown on Starz on April 30 2017 in the USA, it’s on Amazon Prime in the rest of the world.

Is there an American Gods trailer?

Who wrote the American Gods book?

Original book was written by Neil Gaiman and released in 2001. It went on to win multiple awards and sell millions of copies. A special edition was released in 2011 featuring 12,000 more words. There several spin-off books and short stories about the characters in the book.

The TV series will feature some gods that aren’t in the book, like a god of guns. Michael Green explains more about this new god. ‘He’s a brand-new addition who came from an experience Neil had. He was going through a small town in Alabama where he saw a statue of Vulcan. It was a steel town and, as he told the story, there was a factory that had a series of accidents where people were killed on the job and they kept happening because an actuarial had done the numbers and realized that it was cheaper to pay out the damages to the families of people who lost people, rather than to shut down the factory long enough to repair, and that occurred to him as modern a definition of sacrifice as there might be.’

Who are the American Gods cast / characters?

This next section is going to have SPOILERS. You have been warned.

Ricky Whittle / Shadow Moon

An Ex-con who stumbles into a world where gods are real and plotting against each other. As the series unfolds we learn that Wednesday set everything up to get Shadow to be where he needed him to be.

Emily Browning / Laura Moon

Shadow’s wife. Emily previously appeared in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Sucker Punch and Pompeii. Laura Moon is killed in the first episode in a car crash, but we find out later that it wasn't a complete accident. Wednesday had a hand in it.

Ian McShane / Wednesday

At first Shadow thinks that Wednesday is just a conman who wants a bit of muscle to protect him but then things get weirder. Wednesday is Based on Odin/Woden, the chief Norse god. He's an old god, who wants to fight the new gods in a mighty battle. He's incredibly good at tricking people into doing what he wants and always seems to be about five moves ahead.

Pablo Schreiber / Mad Sweeney

A Leprechaun working for Mr Wednesday. Mad Sweeney is tall - the fact that they are described as the small folk is a joke - and always up for a fight. He has a huge amount of gold that he can summon at will making it appear anywhere he likes and has one very special magical coin that he mistakenly gives Shadow. Mad Sweeney works for Mr Wednesday because he wants to take part in the battle organised by Mr Wednesday. Schreiber was previously appeared in Orange Is The New Black as George "Pornstache" Mendez.

Crispin Glover / Mr. World

Mr World is the leader of the new gods. He is personification of globalization. Mr World understands that Wednesday is still a threat to him and tries to do a deal. Previously Crispin Glover's most famous role was as George McFly in the Back To The Future trilogy of films.

Bruce Langley / Technical Boy

The New god of technology, things like the computers and the Internet. Technical Boy is allied with Mr World and Media but doesn't always do what they want. 

Gillian Anderson / Media

Media is the God of TV, she gets power from all the hours people sacrifice spent in front of the tube. She appears in many guises, sometimes as Marilyn Monroe sometimes as David Bowie. Anderson's break-through hit was in The X Files as Agent Scully.

Peter Stormare / Czernobog

An old Slavic god of darkness and evil. Wednesday wants Czernobog's help in the battle but Czernobog is suspicious of Wednesday's motives. Czernobog only agrees after he makes a pact with Shadow Moon over a game of checkers. 

Will there be an American Gods season 2?

Yes Neil Gaiman has confirmed in a tweet/Instagram post that he is meeting with Bryan Fuller to talk about what will happen in season two. The original book is 228,160 words and so far the first season is that far in, two seasons won't even come close to covering it.

If you liked American Gods be sure sure to check out the new Cloverfield movie. Or if you want more supernatural fun based on works by Neil Gaiman have a look at Lucifer.