Starz released the first official American Gods trailer at Comic-Con this week, according to the Futon Critic . The upcoming television series is based on the contemporary fantasy novel by Neil Gaiman and the show is produced by Bryan Fuller, who also brought the world Hannibal and Pushing Daisies .
Not only did Starz deliver the new American Gods trailer to Comic-Con audiences, but they had a special announcement for fans of Bryan Fuller. Kristen Chenoweth has signed on to play Easter in American Gods , joining the man who originally cast her as Olive Snook in Pushing Daisies .
The Neil Gaiman novel, American Gods, is a contemporary fantasy featuring a man named Shadow Moon who gets out of prison two days earlier than expected when he learns that his wife died in an auto accident. While on the plane back home for her funeral, he meets a man named Mr. Wednesday and gets involved in a war that no one knows is underway.
That is where Bryan Fuller’s skills as a master at fantasy television should come in handy, and the American Gods trailer shows his mastery. The war is between the Old Gods, of which Mr. Wednesday is one, and the New Gods. These are brought to life in a very real way.
The first trailer for “American Gods” is full of dark magic https://t.co/QE8xWpzd7d pic.twitter.com/Uw97f0QtJQ
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) July 23, 2016
The cast for American Gods is also quite good, and the American Gods trailer shows they fit their roles well. Ricky Whittle is Shadow Moon, one of the less famous of the cast members, which works well for his role as the former convict.
However, Ian McShane seems to be perfect casting as Mr. Wednesday. McShane has a large television fan base from his roles on Deadwood and Game of Thrones . He seems to fit this antagonistic role perfectly. On the other hand, some very inspired casting brings in X-Files’ Gillian Anderson to play Media. Anderson as a villain should be delicious.
The @AmericanGodsSTZ dream team came by today for @ShutterstockNow photos and a #SDCC @TVLine chat. pic.twitter.com/rBIAwR6Jbo
— Michael Ausiello (@MichaelAusiello) July 23, 2016
The rest of the cast is just as impressive. Emily Browning ( Sucker Punch ) plays Laura Moon, the dead wife of Shadow. Crispin Glover ( Back to the Future ) plays Mr. World, Cloris Leachman ( Young Frankenstein ) plays Zorya, Peter Stormare ( Fargo ) plays Czernobog, Orlando Jones ( MADtv ) plays Mr. Nancy, and comedian Dane Cook plays Robbie.
Chenoweth’s American Gods character Easter is the goddess of the dawn. The former Pushing Daisies actress appeared at the American Gods Comic-Con panel along with Bryan Fuller and Michael Green ( Kings ) when the American Gods trailer screened.
Fuller and Green will write the first American Gods episode and run the show together. Neil Gaiman is also on board as one of the producers. For anyone worried about American Gods making the move to television, Starz is also the network that aired the fantastic Ash vs. Evil Dead , the continuation of the classic Sam Raimi Evil Dead horror series.
It also sounds like the American Gods trailer that is setting up the first season will be the first of many, as Bryan Fuller told Deadline that they plan to have multiple seasons of the show .
“No, it feels like the book would be anywhere from three to four seasons, depending on where we get into as we’re arcing out the second season. The first season was fairly easy to arc out when we went, ‘Oh, this point in the book, that’s where we end the first season.’”
Outside of the American Gods trailer, also debuting at Comic-Con this week from Starz was the trailer for Season 2 of Ash vs. Evil Dead . The trailer makes the follow-up season look as crazy as the first.
https://youtu.be/WzeJTAwqEJ4
Collider reported that Starz held an official party at Comic-Con to celebrate the return of Ash vs. Evil Dead as well as the release of the new American Gods trailer. Ash vs. Evil Dead will premiere in October, just in time for Halloween. The American Gods premiere date has yet to be announced, although many believe it will come in 2017.
[Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP Images]