American Gods is a fantasy drama television series set in the United States.¹⁾

It is based on Neil Gaiman's novel of the same name, published in 2001.²⁾

Bryan Fuller and Michael Green created it for the premium cable network Starz.³⁾

The first season, produced by Fremantle North America and broadcast by Lionsgate Television, aired on April 30, 2017.⁴⁾

Fuller and Green were the showrunners for the first season, and Jesse Alexander took over for the second.⁵⁾

After being freed from jail, Shadow Moon encounters a mysterious man named Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane) and quickly becomes engaged in a large-scale struggle between the Old Gods and the New Gods, who become stronger by the day.⁶⁾

The sitcom was revived for a second season in May 2017, which debuted on March 10, 2019.⁷⁾

Starz renewed American Gods for a third season, which will air on January 10, 2021.⁸⁾

After three seasons, the show was discontinued in March 2021.⁹⁾

The series was praised for its visual design and performances, and it garnered two nominations for Outstanding Main Title Design and Outstanding Special Visual Effects at the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards.¹⁰⁾

It also garnered three nominations for Best Drama Series, Best Actor in a Drama Series for McShane, and Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for Gillian Anderson at the 8th Critics' Choice Television Awards.¹¹⁾

Fuller stated that he wanted the Old Gods to be gritty and rustic in order to “demonstrate the well-worn aspects of their religion and the consequences of going without faith for so long,” whereas the New Gods are slick and technologically advanced in order to demonstrate “how valuable and pertinent they are, in their own religions”.¹²⁾

Neil Gaiman, the author of American Gods, claimed during the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2011 that HBO has indicated interest in translating the novel into a television series.¹³⁾

Gaiman discussed the project's progress at the Cambridge International Student Film Festival in March 2013, confirming that the first episode will “contain fresh parts and details” while staying “a lot like the opening chapters of the novel”.¹⁴⁾

Gaiman confirmed on Reddit in November 2013 that the TV series was still in the works but no longer at HBO.¹⁵⁾

HBO's head of programming, Michael Lombardo, confirmed in 2014 that the project had been shelved because the screenplay could not be perfected: “We tried three different writers, we put a lot of effort into it.” Some things just do not happen“.¹⁶⁾

Fremantle Media bought the rights to adapt the novel into a fantasy drama series in February 2014.¹⁷⁾

Starz announced in July 2014 that the project will be developed alongside Bryan Fuller and Michael Green.¹⁸⁾

According to Fuller, the series would ”[follow] the events of the books while expanding those events and widening the point of view to go beyond Shadow and Wednesday“.¹⁹⁾

The series has been granted permission to include aspects from the book's companion, Anansi Boys.²⁰⁾

Fuller also said that Gaiman is “quite engaged” with the development, and he hopes that Gaiman will write one episode himself.²¹⁾

Starz officially confirmed the series' greenlighting on June 16, 2015.²²⁾

Neil Gaiman outlined ideas for future seasons of the program beyond the first, should it be sustained, in an interview on June 24, 2016, noting that the first season only covers the first third of the novel.²³⁾

Gaiman indicated in an interview in October 2018 that the series will have five seasons.²⁴⁾

The project was first taken up by HBO, with Tom Hanks serving as producer.²⁵⁾

Season 1 was supposed to have ten episodes, but after seeing the cuts for episodes 3 and 4, the producers decided to combine them into one single episode and then use the cliffhanger for the second to last episode as the season finale, then use parts of the original season finale throughout the season. As a result, the season has eight episodes.²⁶⁾

Despite loving the material, Nicolas Cage was contacted to play Mr. Wednesday but declined. The obligation of doing a TV program was the major reason he declined.²⁷⁾

After creators Bryan Fuller and Michael Green were dismissed, Gillian Anderson and Kristin Chenoweth chose not to return to the program for season 2. Anderson was replaced by Kahyun Kim, and the position was renamed New Media; Chenoweth's role as Easter was simply dropped.²⁸⁾

The entire Laura backstory was developed by the show's makers to further develop the principal female character. When Emily Browning was offered the job, she was given the screenplay for the Laura-centered episode.²⁹⁾

Bryan Fuller is writing his first series since Hannibal (2013).³⁰⁾