Bryan Fuller Explains That AMERICAN GODS Will Be “Marvel Universe with Gods”
Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies, Hannibal) is deep in development on a new series based on Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. In a recent interview with Crave, Fuller talked about his plans for the series and revealed that he was inspired by Marvel when creating his upcoming show, and he really plans on embracing what Marvel has done:
“[W]hat we’re looking at with American Gods is developing a Marvel Universe, not with superheroes but with gods. As detailed and integrated as the Marvel Universe is, and doing that with deities is something that excited all of us...
"In success we may have spin-offs of American Gods that follow lesser gods in greater detail than you might in the main series, but there’s all sorts of potential for this show that we’re very excited about and I hope the audience is as enthusiastic as we are so we can bring those dreams to fruition."
Marvel Studios has been very successful with how they run things, and I can see it working out extremely well with American Gods. Fuller went on to explain how the show will deal with the delicate subject matter of religion:
“There’s conversations in the writer’s room that we are having on this show that I’ve never had in a writer’s room before, because we’re actually given the ability to talk about fate and belief, and the rules which we use to navigate society being challenged in a fashion that is not anti-religion, but not necessarily letting religion off the hook entirely...
"So it’s very important to us in the show to not be making fun of anybody for their religious beliefs because we all have some sort of belief-like thing in our brain that could arguably be delusional, whether it’s ghosts or gods or whatever superstition, black cats, walking under ladders, et cetera.”
The plot centers on "a war brewing between old and new gods: the traditional gods of biblical and mythological roots from around the world steadily losing believers to an upstart pantheon of gods reflecting society’s modern love of money, technology, media, celebrity and drugs. Its protagonist, Shadow Moon, is an ex-con who becomes bodyguard and traveling partner to Mr. Wednesday, a conman but in reality one of the older gods, on a cross-country mission to gather his forces in preparation to battle the new deities."
I’m excited to see how this turns out, and if anyone can turn it into a very cool show, it’s Fuller. American Gods premieres on the Starz network in 2017.