Divinity war
HOW AMERICAN GODS S2 IS SET TO TAKE THINGS TO A HIGHER PLANE…
Ithe first season of American Gods, my character Shadow Moon was a punchbag – physically, emotionally, spiritually,” winces Brit actor Ricky Whittle. (Spoilers for S1 follow.) The first run of the fantasy drama – centring on a war between gods old and new – saw Shadow released from prison just as his wife Laura (Emily Browning) was killed in a car accident. Next, he found his services enlisted by a stranger called Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane), who turned out to be none other than Norse god Odin. Whatever next? “Well, if anything, things get worse in Season 2!” says Whittle. “Shadow will actually break, mentally. We can’t have a phoenix from the flames without being burned first. It all leads up to a season finale that is simply epic.”
“Deeper and darker” is how celebrated source author Neil Gaiman describes the new season of Starz’s bold and bonkers adaptation. “The stakes are now deeply personal,” he adds. At the same time, the scale’s expanding, according to showrunner Jesse Alexander. “American Gods is the most cinematic show on television, and we needed the war story to go to the next level,” he explains.
And McShane? Is the veteran actor also giddy with excitement over the eight-episode sophomore run? You bet. “American Gods pushes the envelope
a little more this season,” he notes, which is quite the statement given S1 was narratively berserk and visually audacious. “We continue to tackle big themes in a way that explains something about the life we live, why we’re here, and what we’re looking for.”
You might say that all of the above is fighting talk, since S2’s journey to our screens has been windy and rocky: showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green exited; Gillian Anderson, playing New God Media, declined to return; and rumours of budget cuts circulated. But Whittle is having none of it, pointing out that S1 was likewise plagued by negative stories during its production, only to be lauded upon release.
SHAPING UP NICELY
“The media hype things,” he shrugs. “I’ve not worked on any show where there haven’t been comings and goings, or things go over budget. We don’t pay attention. We were given a fantastic foundation by Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, who built this world for us, and then Jesse came in and got us back on screen for Season 2. We just evolve. As for Gillian Anderson, she wasn’t doing X-Files, either. She’s just staying away from the industry for a while. Media is not in the book that much, so it isn’t a problem, and Gillian is not off the table for Season 3…”
And the budget? Surely a show this imaginative can’t afford to cut corners? “It’s the same budget,” he says. “If anything, the special effects are better, as we’ve brought in the team
‘SHADOW WILL BREAK, MENTALLY. IT ALL LEADS TO AN EPIC FINALE’ RICKY WHITTLE
from The Shape Of Water. I’ve seen stuff in post and it’s looking incredible.”
S2 picks up mere hours after S1’s cataclysmic conclusion. Shadow is now aware of Mr. Wednesday’s identity and the true nature of the world he inhabits – a world where Old Gods (such as Thoth, Suibhne, Loki) and New Gods (Technical Boy, Mr. World, The Intangibles… ) walk among us – and now our road-tripping odd couple must convince the ancient deities to wage war on these upstart icons.
Various quests will wend their way across America, with the core cast returning plus new characters thrown into the mix – with all converging on Cairo, Illinois, for the “simply epic” finale aforementioned by Whittle. But there are intimate tales, too, with Shadow intent on tracking his origins, Odin dealing with family matters and Old God Bilquis (Yetide Badaki) revealing there’s more to her than a unique method of man-eating. “Now you know the players and the world, we can move a lot faster, just tell the story,” says Whittle. “Season 2 is going to pop.”
GOING OFF-ROAD
And will this season, like the first (which only took us a fifth of the way into the book), also diverge from Gaiman’s writing and throw fans a few curveballs? Whittle laughs. “We’ve got incredible source material, so obviously there’s a timeline we will follow, but we need to keep it fresh. It’s a very different animal. A lot of the book is internal monologue, so we have to jazz a few things up. Even fans of the book won’t have a clue what’s going on!” Serving as exec producer, Gaiman himself welcomes the chance to spring surprises. “We are evil and we are tricky,” he chuckles.
One thing’s for sure: this season of American Gods will continue to explore themes of identity, immigration, race, religion and propaganda, and nothing less than the soul of America will be at stake. “What is our purpose on Earth, is there a higher power, how do we remain relevant as we age, who can we trust, what can we believe in?” muses Alexander. “American Gods is a fantastic canvas to explore what it is to be human.” Jamie Graham
AMERICAN GODS S2 STARTS ON PRIME VIDEO ON 11 MARCH.