Marilyn Manson has been cast in the next series of American Gods in a very fitting role.

The rock star will appear in the upcoming third season of the sci-fi show and will play Johan Wengren, the frontman of a “Viking death metal band” called Blood Death.

In a statement, Chic Eglee said it was “dope indeed to be working with Mr Manson”. “Bringing his specific energy, wit, and boundless enthusiasm for all things Neil Gaiman to the role of Johan, a Norse ‘beserker’ in service to Odin, his performance promises to be disturbing, original, and uniquely entertaining,” he added.

According to Deadline, both Wengren and Blood Death will be “a source of power for the Ian McShane-portrayed Mr Wednesday in his war with the New Gods.” American Gods, which airs on the channel Starz in the US, is based on the novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman, of whom Manson is a noted fan.

The casting isn’t Manson’s first TV role to be announced recently. In May, he was announced to play a part in HBO’s The New Pope in an unknown role. In July, he was also confirmed to appear in a new TV adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand, for which he has also recorded a cover of The Doors’ ‘The End’. 

Meanwhile, the musician is also working on a new album – the follow-up to 2017’s ‘Heaven Upside Down’. In July, he said it would be released before the end of 2019 and suggested it could be self-titled.

“I think it’s the album that should be called Marilyn Manson,” he said. “I’m in a mode in life where I wanted to tell stories with this record, and it’s sort of like a wax museum of my thoughts, a study of the chamber of horrors in my head. All the romance and hope you can have in the world, here in the End Times where it can be a different kind of apocalypse for each person listening to the record”

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