American Gods’ opening titles will melt your brain
David Farnor | On 31, Mar 2017
These days, the unspoken rule of TV is that you don’t have a cool title sequence, your show won’t stand out from the rest. American Gods, it’s safe to say, will not have that problem.
Playing out like the neon nightmare of that guy from Se7en, if he were high, the credits dive right into the series’ themes of old gods battling the new without pausing for breath. Statues, totems, theological icons, cowboys, a jet engine, a disturbing centaur and a crucified astronaut, everything your puny mortal mind could fail to conceive is thrown up on screen, accompanied by a bass line that recalls Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ cover of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song.
It’s a brain-melting, retina-scorching ride – and that’s before the programme has even begun. That starts on 1st exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in the UK.
American Gods unveils glorious new trailer
15th March 2017
“It will be glorious, win or lose,” promises Ian McShane in the new trailer for American Gods – and judging by what’s on show, he’s not wrong.
Starz’s new series, based on Neil Gaiman’s award-winning novel, is already one of the year’s most anticipated TV shows, but if you were in any doubt that Bryan Fuller and Michael Green might fail to deliver on the epic fantasy stakes, this new video teasing the brewing conflict between the Old Gods and the New will instil some faith in you.
The traditional Old Gods, with mythological roots from around the world, are fearing irrelevance, as their believers die off or are seduced by the money, technology, and celebrity offered by the New Gods. Enter McShane as Mr. Wednesday, who enlists Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle – The 100, Austenland) as part of his cross-country mission.
Joining McShane and White are an impressive cast that includes Emily Browning (Sucker Punch, Legend) as Shadow’s wife, Laura Moon, and Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) as Media, the mouthpiece for the New Gods, not to mention Pablo Schreiber (13 Hours, Orange Is the New Black) as Mad Sweeney, Yetide Badaki (Aquarius, Masters of Sex) as Bilquis and Kristin Chenoweth, as Easter.
Also bringing Gaiman’s universe to the screen is David Slade (Hannibal, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse), who is directing the pilot and additional episodes. FMNA’s Craig Cegielski and Stefanie Berk are executive producers along with Fuller, Green, Slade, Adam Kane and Gaiman.
The show will premiere in the UK exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, with the first episode released on 1st May, with further episodes arriving weekly within 24 hours of their US debut. Read on for the trailer, but be warned: in the words of Mr. Wednesday, things are never going back to the way they were. For more information, see Where can I watch American Gods online in the UK?
American Gods to premiere in UK on 1st May
24th February 2017
American Gods will premiere in the UK this May, Amazon has announced.
Neil Gaiman’s tale of mythological gods, starring Ricky Whittle, Ian McShane, Emily Browning, Kristin Chenoweth and Gillian Anderson, has finally got an official air date in the UK.
The show will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on 1st May, within 24 hours of its debut on STARZ in the USA.
The show posits a different kind of war brewing — one between Old Gods and New. The traditional Old Gods, with mythological roots from around the world, fear irrelevance as their believers die off or are seduced by the money, technology, and celebrity offered by the New Gods. Adapted from Gaiman’s award-winning novel, it stars Ricky Whittle (The 100, Austenland) as protagonist ex-con Shadow Moon, Ian McShane (Deadwood, Pirates of the Caribbean) as Mr. Wednesday, who enlists Shadow Moon as part of his cross-country mission, and Emily Browning (Sucker Punch, Legend) as Shadow’s wife, Laura Moon. American Gods also features Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) as Media, the mouthpiece for the New Gods, Pablo Schreiber (13 Hours, Orange Is the New Black) as Mad Sweeney, Yetide Badaki (Aquarius, Masters of Sex) as Bilquis and a strong supporting cast, including Kristin Chenoweth, as Easter.
Written in 2001, the book has been translated into over 30 languages and earned numerous accolades including Hugo, Nebula and Bram Stoker Awards for Best Novel.
The series is produced by FremantleMedia North America, with Hannibal’s Bryan Fuller and Alien: Covenant’s Michael Green on board as writers and showrunners. David Slade (Hannibal) is directing the pilot and additional episodes.
New episodes will premiere weekly on Amazon, within 24 hours of their US broadcast.
Here’s a trailer:
Amazon will be the UK TV home for American Gods
24th August 2016
Amazon will be the exclusive UK TV home of American Gods.
The streaming service has snapped up the rights to Starz’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s book – as we predicted back in July.
The site has a long-standing relationship with the US channel, establishing itself as the UK TV home for a number of its original shows, including Black Sails, Outlander, Flesh and Bone and The Girlfriend Experience.
Starz’s take on the fantasy novel, first published in 2001, may well prove to be their most high-profile project yet. With its expansive tale of gods in the modern day, it’s the kind of story that always seemed destined to head to the screen – and judging by the trailer unveiled at Comic-Con this summer, showrunners Bryan Fuller (Hannibal) and Michael Green (Heroes) are doing an impressive job. (Gaiman is also an exec producer on the programme.)
The story follows a war that is brewing between old and new gods: the traditional gods of biblical and mythological roots from around the world steadily losing believers to an upstart pantheon of gods reflecting society’s modern love of money, technology, media, celebrity and drugs.
The protagonist, Shadow Moon, is an ex-con who becomes bodyguard and traveling partner to Mr. Wednesday, a con man who is actually one of the older gods on a cross-country mission to gather his forces.
Britain’s own Ricky Whittle (of Hollyoaks, Dream Team and The 100 fame) plays Shadow, with a supporting cast that includes everyone from Ian McShane as Mr. Wednesday, Pablo Schreiber as Mad Sweeney, Crispin Glober as Mr. World, Emily Browning as Laura Moon and Gillian Anderson as Media.
The show is produced by FremantleMedia North America. David Slade (Hannibal, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse) is directing the pilot and additional episodes.
Amazon revealed its acquisition of the UK rights to the show on Twitter today, following an announcement at the Edinburgh TV Festival. It adds to an increasingly impressive library of US exclusives for Amazon Prime Video in the UK, from Mr. Robot and Outlander to Preacher, all included in a £5.99 monthly subscription. Amazon also holds the rights for Germany, Austria and Japan.
“Adapted from Neil Gaiman’s beloved novel, American Gods is one of the most ambitious new television series coming out in 2017,” says Brad Beale, Vice President of Worldwide Television Acquisition for Amazon. “It joins our roster of exciting, high-quality Original and exclusive shows for our Prime members including, this year, the highly anticipated The Grand Tour, Mr. Robot, Preacher, Lucifer and the return of The Man in the High Castle.”
The show will premiere on Amazon Prime Video at some point in 2017. Watch this space for an exact air date.
In the meantime, here’s that trailer again: