Ian McShane Set to Star in Neil Gaiman's AMERICAN GODS Series
Ian McShane is set to star in Starz adaptation of Neil Gaiman's fantasy novel American Gods. He will take on the role of Mr. Wednesday. The character is described as a "powerful and charismatic — a Casanova of sorts — who is a con man and an incarnation of All-Father Odin, who's traveling America recruiting his fellow forgotten deities to wage an epic battle against the new American gods." This is a role that is perfect for McShane and he's going to be awesome as this character. In a statement talking about McShane's involvement with the series, Gaiman said:
"When you write a beloved character (beloved with, or despite, or because of all his faults) like Mr. Wednesday, you get to watch the Internet trying to cast the role. I've seen a hundred names suggested, but few make me grin like Ian McShane does. I've already been lucky enough to have him in one film (he was bright blue in it, animated, and probably Polish). Now I count myself even luckier: he's made the journey from Lovejoy to American Gods. Yesterday was Super Tuesday. Today is Wonderful Wednesday."
The story focuses 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 (Ricky White), 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."
Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies, Hannibal) has been developing the series and he has previously said that it will be like the Marvel Universe with gods instead of superheroes. He explains:
"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."
Production on the series is scheduled to start in April and David Slade (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night) is set to direct the pilot episode and some additional episodes. This series has potential to be epic and if anyone can pull off a great series, it's the team of talent currently developing it. To check out some concept art that was previously released for the series, click here.