American Gods delivered a unique and stylized adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s book that suffered from behind-the-scenes turmoil and deserved better than to be cancelled on a cliffhanger.
What Is It?
Based on the Neil Gaiman novel of the same name, American Gods follows Shadow Moon who is released early from prison after his wife dies and who meets the mysterious character who calls himself Mr. Wednesday. He learns that the gods of old are still living in America, though mostly in squalor, and are preparing for a war with the new gods of technology, media, globalism, and more and that he will play an important part in the upcoming conflict.
Aired: Starz, 2017-21, 3 Seasons Totaling 26 Episodes
Starring: Ricky Whittle, Emily Browning, Crispin Glover, Bruce Langley, Yetide Badaki, Ian McShane
Created By: Neil Gaiman, Bryan Fuller, Michael Green
Why Was It Cancelled?
When this show first premiered on Starz in Spring of 2017, it performed well in viewership and it also received high marks from critics. The premium cable service issued a pretty quick renewal for the series, which seemed to suggest that it had a bright future ahead. But sadly, it would follow a very troubled path in the coming years. Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, who had originally developed the show, departed as showrunners over the dreaded creative differences which were in part allegedly due to conflicts with Neil Gaiman over their divergences from the source material. American Gods would continue to turn over showrunners through its second and third seasons and there would also be notable cast changes as well. In addition, the show would experience long delays between seasons in part due to the behind-the-scenes turmoil and also because of the COVID-related production shutdowns for the final season.
In addition to all of this, the viewership dropped each year and by the third season it had only a fraction of the audience that it started with. It was also an expensive series to produce and the network did not have an ownership stake in the property so the execs at Starz decided that they could not justify bringing it back for a fourth year. According to Gaiman, five seasons were planned, but the third season ended near the climax of the novel while also leaving the show on a major cliffhanger. The show had added a lot of material that was not in the books, but it was still on track to complete the original story. For the fans who had stuck with it through three seasons of production turmoil, though, they were left with a very unsatisfying ending.
Can It Be Revived?
Immediately after the cancellation, there were talks of an event series or movie to wrap up the storylines. And that would have worked because, as mentioned above, the show had come close to a logical ending place. They may not have been able to cover all the additional material planned for a potential fourth and fifth season, but at least the series could have received a better resolution. Apparently, nothing was worked out, though, because there has been no word on a movie or any other sort of continuation. There is an Anansi Boys TV series in the works at Amazon’s Prime Video (based on a Neil Gaiman novel that takes place in the same universe as American Gods), but it will not be tied to the Starz production.
The show was produced by Freemantle and it seems like the rights should have reverted to that company now seeing as it has been over two years since the third season aired. There was not much of an effort to save the show after it was first cancelled, but if fans were to come together now and make a push, perhaps something could still happen. Freemantle would certainly be interested in having a more complete series to license to streaming services, and one final movie could give them that. It will likely be costly to produce, but it does make the property more saleable. Neil Gaiman is certainly busy with The Sandman and other projects, but perhaps he could be coaxed back. (Or maybe bring in original showrunner Bryan Fuller who does not seem to be too busy at the moment?) At this point, it may be up to the fans or someone at Freemantle or in the industry who wants to get behind the project, but perhaps American Gods series could get a conclusion at some point.
Where Can You Watch It?
All three seasons have been released on DVD and Blu-ray. It is also still streaming on Starz though it could make the move at some point if the rights revert back to Freemantle.
Did you watch American Gods and would you support fan efforts to get it a proper conclusion? Chime in with your thoughts in the comments below.
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