Neil Gaiman’s American Gods TV adaptation has landed Gillian Anderson, who will play the character of Media in the upcoming Starz TV series. Originally published in 2001 and followed up by Anansi Boys, the book follows Shadow, a convict released early from prison when his wife and best friend die in a car accident.
The story centers around the belief that gods exist simply because people believe in them. Immigrants brought their gods with them when they immigrated to America, called the Old Gods. However, New Gods have arisen out of America’s obsessions with media, celebrity, technology, drugs, and other things. As is par for the course, whenever old and new mix, there’s sure to be trouble and in this case there’s a war brewing between the Old and New Gods.
Media is the spokesperson for the New Gods, and lives off the attention that people give to their TVs, computers, and smartphones, often assuming the form of celebrities and spinning stories to best suit her needs. It will be interesting to see just how many gods make it into the TV series as the book includes everyone from Odin and Loki to Anubis, Bast, and Thoth, the Slavic god Czernobog, and even Johnny Appleseed and a leprechaun for good measure.
American Gods also currently has Ricky Whittle (as Shadow), Emily Browning (as Laura Moon), Ian McShane (as Mr. Wednesday), Peter Stormare (as Czernobog), and Crispin Glover (as Mr. World) on the cast list, and is set to debut in 2017.
Have you read American Gods? What do you think about the casting of Gillian Anderson as Media? Let us know in the comments below, or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.
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