Neil Gaiman is a real hero of the sci-fi/fantasy domain. His mind-boggling body of work includes the 2000 AD comic series (the home of Judge Dredd), The Sandman graphic novels, Coraline, Stardust, the screenplay for Beowulf, the English-language version of the one for Princess Mononoke, 3 episodes of Doctor Who and a biography for Duran Duran (well, I guess nobody’s perfect). Numerous other novels, comics and shorts under his name have been considered in the past but none are more sought after than American Gods.
American Gods is a highly acclaimed, award winning 2001 novel that seems like it’s almost begging to be adapted for TV. Before I explain the premise, those unfamiliar might want to put something between their teeth to keep from chewing their own faces off with excitement at the sound of it: in the world of the book, Gods and creatures of legend exist because we thought of them and they are fueled by imagination, being that America is a country built on settlers, it’s teeming with Gods and creatures from all kinds of different cultures. At the point where the book kicks off, these legendary creatures are fading from existence as people’s belief does and new ones that reflect the modern American mindset have emerged. These new Gods promptly declare war on the old ones. Yeah, I know, amazing.
The rights have been bouncing around for years and for a long time HBO were working on it but it never gained any traction and the project stayed in limbo. Now though, another US network called Starz (known for broadcasting Spartacus and Party Down, among other things) have picked it up and a TV adaptation is in production. It gets better. Gaiman has signed on as a producer and the two names attached to run the show and adapt the book for screen are Michael Green (of Heroes fame, also currently working on Gotham) and Bryan Fuller. If you’re anything like me you probably keep a shrine to Bryan Fuller in your attic but for those who don’t, Fuller was the lead showrunner on Pushing Dasies and he’s currently the helmsman on Hannibal, the second season of which I count as one of the best seasons of anything in televisual history to date. These are all very, very good signs.
In a statement on the subject, Fuller said “Neil Gaiman has created the holiest of holy toy boxes with American Gods and filled it with all manner of magical thing, born of new gods and old, Michael Green and I are thrilled to crack this toy box wide open and unleash the fantastical titans of heaven and earth and Neil’s vividly prolific imagination.”
This is going to a huge show with the potential to a real game-changer, we’ll keep track of developments here at Vultures, you guys just focus on getting stoked.
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