Starz Announces 'American Gods' To Premiere April 30th

Starz announced today that the highly-anticipated eight-episode first season of FremantleMedia North America produced STARZ Original Series "American Gods," adapted from Neil Gaiman's acclaimed contemporary fantasy novel, will make its network premiere on Sunday, April 30th at 9PM ET/PT.

The announcements come ahead of the World Premiere and extended Q&A of the series at SXSW in March. The series will debut publicly at the festival on March 11 at 11 AM CT at the Vimeo Theater in the Austin Convention Center followed by an extended Q&A moderated by KCRW's Elvis Mitchell. Showrunners and cast in attendance will include Bryan Fuller, Michael Green, Ricky Whittle, Ian McShane, Emily Browning, Pablo Schreiber, Crispin Glover, Yetide Badaki, Bruce Langley, Orlando Jones, Jonathan Tucker and Betty Gilpin.

"American Gods" posits a different kind of war brewing - one between Old Gods and New. The traditional Old Gods, with mythological roots from around the world, fear irrelevance as their believers die off or are seduced by the money, technology, and celebrity offered by the New Gods. Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) is an ex-con who, left adrift by the recent death of his wife, becomes bodyguard and traveling partner to conman Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane). But in truth, Mr. Wednesday is a powerful old deity, on a cross-country mission to build an army and reclaim his lost glory.

Adapted from the award-winning novel, "American Gods" stars Ricky Whittle ("The 100," "Austenland") as Shadow Moon; Ian McShane ("Deadwood," "Ray Donovan") as Mr. Wednesday; Emily Browning ("Sucker Punch," "Legend") as Laura Moon and Pablo Schreiber ("Orange is the New Black") as Mad Sweeney.

Other cast members include Yetide Badaki ("Aquarius," "Masters of Sex") as Bilquis; Bruce Langley ("Deadly Waters") as Technical Boy; Crispin Glover ("Back to the Future") as Mr. World and Orlando Jones ("Madiba," "Sleepy Hollow") as Mr. Nancy.

Additional cast include Gillian Anderson ("The X-Files," "The Fall") as Media; Kristin Chenoweth ("Pushing Daisies," "Wicked") as Easter; Jonathan Tucker ("Kingdom") as Low Key Lyesmith; Cloris Leachman ("Malcom in The Middle," "Raising Hope") as Zorya Vechernyaya; Peter Stormare ("Fargo," "Prison Break") as Czernobog; Chris Obi ("Snow White and the Huntsman," "The Counselor") as Anubis; Demore Barnes ("12 Monkeys") as Mr. Ibis, Corbin Bernsen ("L.A. Law") as Vulcan and Mousa Kraish ("Superbad," "Fast & Furious") as The Jinn.

"American Gods" is produced by FremantleMedia North America. Bryan Fuller ("Hannibal," "Pushing Daisies," "Heroes") and Michael Green ("Blade Runner 2049," "Alien: Covenant," "Murder on the Orient Express," "Kings," "Heroes") are writers and showrunners. David Slade ("Hannibal," "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse") is directing the pilot and additional episodes. FMNA's Craig Cegielski and Stefanie Berk are executive producers along with Fuller, Green, Slade, Adam Kane and Neil Gaiman. Senior Vice Presidents of Original Programming Marta Fernandez and Ken Segna are the Starz executives in charge of "American Gods."

Written by Neil Gaiman in 2001, American Gods has been translated into over 30 languages and earned numerous accolades including Hugo, Nebula and Bram Stoker Awards for Best Novel.