American Gods
War is here as old and new gods do battle in American Gods.
American Gods Season 1 Mondays (from 29 May) M-Net (*101) 22:00 *See Ed’s Letter on p4 for broadcast time information
Don’t expect Viking raiding action in violent sci-fi series American Gods (2017- current). It’s based on Neil Gaiman’s 2001 novel of the same name and follows Viking god Odin (Ian McShane, Al Swearengen in drama Deadwood, 2004-2006) aka Mr Wednesday, who hires excon Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle, Lincoln in sci-fi show The 100, 2014- current) as his driver while he’s reuniting ancient deities. “The gods thrive as long as their descendants worship them,” says series creator Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, 2013-2015). “But traditions were replaced by society’s obsession with media and technology and the old gods faded.” But now they’re back!
DARK MOON RISING
Shadow Moon’s freedom is bittersweet: his wife Laura (Emily Browning) died in a car crash the day before his release. He’s also pestered at the airport by annoying flyer Mr Wednesday. “Shadow is oblivious to what’s going on [that Wednesday is Odin] but he soon discovers that the world is darker and stranger than he imagined,” says Bryan. Shadow’s eyes are opened when he’s hauled into a virtual limo by Technical Boy (Bruce Langley), the modern god of technology.
WE’RE REAL TOO
Shadow and Mr Wednesday are going to bump heads with deities like… Mad Sweeney (Pablo Schreiber, George in Orange Is The New Black, 2013- current) is a leprechaun who has lost his golden coin charm. Mr Nancy (Orlando Jones, Captain Irving in Sleepy Hollow, 2013- current) is African trickster god Anansi, who incites race riots. And Media (Gillian Anderson, Scully in The X- Files, 1993- current) is the face of the modern gods.