Just What Is Going On With ‘American Gods’ Season 2?
‘American Gods‘ was one of the best dramas to come out of the US in 2017. The ambitious adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel proved a hit with viewers on US network Starz and Amazon Prime internationally. However, back in November last year we got the news that showrunners Bryan Fuller & Michael Green had left the series, leaving things somewhat up in the air…
Variety reported Fuller & Green’s decision to leave was due to FremantleMedia Scripted Entertainment boss, Dante di Loreto, refusing to agree to the budget the duo had requested for the new season. Starz CEO, Chris Albrecht, is now saying that was not the case. “They were not fired, nor did they quit,” he commented in an interview with EW. “There’s a very good relationship between Freemantle and Michael and Bryan. Everyone is trying to work this out to have this be a win-win for the people involved and the show itself.” Except, for the “minor” point that neither of them appears to be actively working on the show at the moment…
Albrecht then went on to comment at the TCA Press Tour last week “Bryan and Michael will be as involved as they can be, and a lot of that is between Fremantle and Neil and Bryan and Michael, because this is one of those shows that we do through a studio, and we’re not in direct negotiations with the actual executive producers and the people who are working on the show.” The “involved as they can be” line would seem to be “not very much” in Fuller’s case, as he was already working on a reboot of Steven Spielberg’s ‘Amazing Stories’ and has just landed his dream job working on a tv adaptation of Anne Rice’s ‘The Vampire Chronicles’.
Just to add to the confusion, Albrecht also added “Neil Gaiman will be taking more of a central role and moving forward into a more traditional showrunner function. And we’re looking for a partner for him who can ensure that the television part gets the appropriate attention.” However, Gaiman himself denies this, tweeting “I’m already showrunning ‘Good Omens’ and I won’t be physically showrunning two shows. But I plan to work really closely with the new showrunner, and to help plot and guide and build American Gods, just as I did when Bryan & Michael came on as showrunners.” So Gaiman, who is clearly closer to the production than Albrecht, seems convinced there will be a new showrunner, and it won’t be him.
On the casting side, Gillian Anderson won’t be returning as Media in the second season. Albrecht, once again, pops up to say “this was not a surprise – we knew that she was not necessarily going to be able to come back,” but Anderson herself cites the departure of Fuller and Green as her reason for not returning…
So where does that leave us? Firstly, looking for a new showrunner by the look of things. Once that is sorted, there is writing to figure out, which mainly done by Green, Fuller and Gaiman in Season 1. It’s possible some of the other writers, such as Maria Melnik or David Graziano, who wrote individual Season 1 episodes, may play a larger part in season 2… Or it could be a new set of writers. Some of this work may already have been done by Green & Fuller before they left though, so whoever takes over isn’t starting from scratch.
As for production and the air date, that will really depend on how long it takes to sort this mess out. It’s possible we may see ‘American Gods‘ Season 2 before the end of 2018, but I rather suspect we could be looking at 2019 for a new series. We’ll let you know as we hear more.
