Starz’ Adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s ‘American Gods’ Is Firing on Every Cylinder

Patrick Regan

It’s a fairly understood truth that television is a collaborative business, even more than film. A great novel is the work of a small number of people, largely the novelist. A great work of television is the work of a horde of people, and when something is great, it’s because it is firing on all cylinders, every piece working just right.

That’s why “American Gods” has the potential to be such a treasure. Neil Gaiman’s dark fantasy classic has eluded adaptation for years, even as the author himself has further ascended into the heights of literary rock stardom. It wasn’t until Bryan Fuller, the mastermind behind “Hannibal,” “Pushing Daises,” and “Dead Like Me,” took his hand to it that something beautiful formed.

Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) is a former con looking forward to release from jail. His wife Laura (Emily Browning) awaits him eagerly, ready to help him start a new, honest life together. However, Shadow is released a few days early upon learning that Laura has died in a car crash.  Rushing home, circumstances conspire to place him next to the mysterious Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane), a fellow conman who knows things he should not know and wants to offer the inconsolable, angry Shadow a job.

Lacking anywhere else to go or anything else to do, Shadow takes it, and finds himself in a much stranger world than he could ever imagine, caught in a war no mortal can understand.

“American Gods” has long been considered one of Neil Gaiman’s finest works, and his trademark sense of the strange and dark humor are on full display here. It helps that Fuller himself is known for his wry dark sense of humor, and the visual flair from “Hannibal” is in evidence. Make no mistake, “American Gods” may not be as dark as, say, “Breaking Bad,” but it pulls no punches. When it gets bloody, it gets very bloody indeed, and when it gets weird, its gets beautifully weird indeed.

The show also benefits from some of the strongest casting in some time. The pilot largely rests on McShane and Whittle, but even supporting characters like the absurdly tall leprechaun Mad Sweeny (Pablo Schrieber) run the risk of stealing whatever scene they happen to be in.  That’s not even touching Mr. Nancy (Orlando Jones), Czernobog (Peter Stormare), Mr. World (Crispin Glover) or Easter and Media (played by Fuller standbys Kristen Chenoweth and Gillian Anderson respectively).

“American Gods” has a lot of ground to cover in keeping up with the novel, although there’s plenty that will need changing and updating to match its new medium and modern timeframe. This is most obvious with the antagonist “New God” Technical Boy.  The masters of the Internet looked very different when Gaiman published his original book, compared to today’s Silicon Valley overlords. If the early episodes are any indication, though, we’re in for as wild, as terrifying, and as sublime a ride as the original novel was.

“American Gods” premiered April 30 on Starz and airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.