Yahoo News American Gods season 3: Everything you need to know
It's official. Despite some fairly scathing season two reviews (perhaps because of the plot holes), American Gods season three is happening. And, perhaps unsurprisingly given the history of this thing, there's going to be a new showrunner.
Chic Eglee, producer behind The Shield (yay!), The Walking Dead (um), and Hemlock Grove (yikes!) will be taking the reins of the series.
Neil Gaiman, the genius behind the original book and executive producer on the show, is really happy about it.
"I'm thrilled American Gods has been renewed for a third season, and even more thrilled that I'm getting to work on it with Chic Eglee," Gaiman said in a statement.
"Chic is the best partner in crime. We've been working for weeks now on the shape of the season and I'm delighted that he gets to carry the American Gods torch on to glory.
"Thank you to Fremantle, Starz and Amazon for having faith in the series, to Bryan, Michael and Jesse for bringing it this far, to all the cast and crew, and most of all to the viewers. It's their love of the characters that took us to this point, and will take us on to the next chapter."
Gaiman is so excited by Eglee's appointment, he's hoping that season four will also be greenlit sooner rather than later.
"What I'm hoping is it's less about how long it's going to take season three than getting a season four [renewal] once season three is under way so we can keep the writers 'room on and get the scripts written," Gaiman added.
American Gods season 3 trailer: When will we see American Gods season 3's trailer?
It's here! Check out what Shadow and his holy pals have been up to in the first trailer for American Gods season three.
American Gods season 3 air date: When will American Gods season 3 be on?
Amazon Prime Video has lifted back the curtain and revealed that American Gods season three will start streaming on Monday, January 11 2021, following its Starz premiere in the US the day prior.
Creator Neil Gaiman penned a heartfelt letter to accompany the announcement, where he explained that season three is jam-packed "full of drama and emotion, the very real and the utterly strange," and "features some of the finest performances the show has yet seen".
According to Gaiman, the American Gods "had no idea how timely it would turn out to be" and that the new season will see Ricky Whittle's Shadow Moon try to settle down in a town called Lakeside, just as he does in the original novel.
"At the same time, in season 3, we wanted to focus on the characters and their journeys," Gaiman continued. "To show Shadow forging a path guided by the Gods of his ancestors, becoming more himself while deciding who he is and what side he's on – humanity's or that of the Gods.
"We knew also that we wanted to continue to root the show in the landscapes of America. To explore what 'America' means to its people and to talk about immigrants – about the very different people who came to this remarkable land and brought their gods with them.
"The new gods of phone and app and glitter demand our attention and our love, and the old gods want to mean something again. America must be for all of us, and American Gods must reflect that. This season truly feels as if it does.
"The struggles of the gods and the people in season 3 of American Gods are the struggles of America. We didn't think it would prove as timely when we plotted it, nor did I think the novel would still be relevant when I wrote it over 20 years ago.
"But I'm glad it's happening now, in a year when it feels as though diverse stories are being heard, and honored, and allowed to change the future," Gaiman concluded.
American Gods season 3 cast: Who will be in American Gods season 3?
Returning cast members include Ricky Whittle as Shadow Moon, Ian McShane as Mr Wednesday, Emily Browning as Laura Moon, and Bruce Langley as the Technical Boy.
We'll also hope to see more from Yetide Badaki as Bilquis, Mousa Kraish as The Jinn, Omid Abtahi as Salim and Demore Barnes as Mr Ibis.
For the role of Mr World, Crispin Glover will be replaced by Pose star Dominique Jackson. And this isn't the first time that the series has changed a cast member in this fashion. Gillian Anderson played Media in the first season of the series. before she was replaced by Kahyun Kim as New Media in season two.
Eric Johnson also joins the cast this season as a new character called Chad Mulligan, the sheriff of the town of Lakeside.
One cast member who definitely won't be returning is Orlando Jones. Details of the controversy that surrounded his departure can be found here.
So according to @americangodsus and @FremantleUS Chic Eglee , The show runner and myself clashed, let’s be clear I HAVE NEVER had a conversation or met the showrunner, he never once reached out to me or called me!! He sent others to do his dirty work....
— Orlando Jones (@TheOrlandoJones) December 16, 2019
Neil Gaiman has since responded to this controversy, telling Digital Spy:
"Well, I think there was a lot of confusion, and I think it probably could have been handled much better, and that's including communicating with the cast over what was happening in this season, and what's going to be happening in season four," he said.
"I'll put it this way: there are a lot of actors who seem to think that they've been fired because they weren't in season three, and you're sort of going, 'You're not in this season because stuff is happening in the season that you're not in. That doesn't mean you're not coming back. There's an awful lot of stuff that doesn't mean'.
"But what it does mean is that the showrunner is doing – and the writers are doing the Lakeside storyline, and it's their plot. They're building up Shadow turning up in the middle of winter, and, you know, so there's this strange, little town.
"It's just like the book. You actually meet a whole bunch of new characters, and there's a new plot that then winds up at the end, tying into the old plot."
American Gods season 3 plot: What's American Gods season 3 about?
Despite the fact it's a fairly brilliant adaptation of Neil Gaiman's book of the same name, American Gods the TV show has made so many changes it's actually hard to predict what'll happen next. It's something the show's star, Ricky Whittle, spoke to Digital Spy about.
"I feel that now the show is really becoming its own thing it's evolving into a different organism," Whittle (Shadow Moon) said.
"There's certain threads on the show, that I call 'the Marty McFly timeline' – Sweeney and Laura never meet in the book. And now that they're tight [on TV], there's certain things in the book that can't happen.
"There's so many different kinds of directions that the show can go in. We can even bring in [Gaiman's 2005 book] Anansi Boys and [2007's] The Monarch of the Glen and all these other spin-off stories that Neil writes, and the eventual sequel [to American Gods].
"It really can go anywhere, which is exciting. We might not necessarily finish at the book, or maybe the book will finish early and we'll evolve into something else. Neil's involved in the whole thing, so if they decide to completely drift away from the book that could happen too. It's exciting to see what comes up."
Let’s hope it looks as good as seasons one and two to keep it consistent with a show Ricky Whittle said was "more beautiful" than Game of Thrones.
And Gaiman himself has given us some pretty major clues in terms of what we should expect from season three's key characters.
"I love Laura in the book but she's a shadowy figure mostly because you see her when Shadow's interacting with her," Gaiman said (via EW).
"What Emily has brought to that character was something that wasn't in the book, something gutsy and angry and really smart and something bleak and nihilistic and depressed at the same time.
"Laura is not a very nice person in death but she was really a very nice person in life. She does have this remarkable integrity in death where she doesn’t need to bullshit, so putting her with Mad Sweeney gives you this fabulous dynamic and it’s not over yet," he teased.
Even in death, Laura and Sweeney are connected, Gaiman told EW, as what happens to the body of the dead Irish former king is apparently tied directly into Laura's journey and will be "one of the engines that is going to drive season three".
But season three isn't just about Laura and Mad Sweeney – Wednesday's going to have a lot to do too.
"Wednesday is going to have a much bigger task in season three because there is a war that he is determined to have and it's one that he is ready to have. The cold war is going to be finishing soon and it'll be time soon for the real war to begin," Gaiman said.
"We're going to learn why it is that it doesn't seem to matter who tells Shadow that Wednesday is trying to f**k him over, he does not appear to hear this. There is actually a reason for this and why that is is going to become an important part for season three."
Gaiman has had a better experience all-round on season three. "I got to specify that I wanted an experienced showrunner, somebody who would not be intimidated by anybody, somebody absolutely familiar with every single part of the TV-making process," the writer said.
"I wanted a steady hand on the tiller. American Gods, people love the characters and they love the world and with the seasons we plan to do, our plan is to get it sharper with better storytelling."
We'll be following all the latest news nuggets like Shadow trailing Wednesday, so do keep this page bookmarked for all upcoming updates.
American Gods airs on Starz in the US and Amazon Prime in the UK.
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