American Gods is set to air at the end of the month and is one of the most anticipated television events of the year. But can it live up to the hype?
Neil Gaiman's best-selling pop-mythology novel has been adapted by Hannibal's Bryan Fuller and Alien: Covenant's Michael Green and stars Hollyoaks actor Ricky Whittle as Shadow Moon, a prisoner whose wife is killed just before he is released.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What follows is an epic road trip across the US, in which Mr Wednesday turns out to be the Norse god Odin on a mission to rally the old gods, now living incognito lives, in a battle against the growing new powers of Media and Technology.
The show has been eagerly anticipated ever since it was announced.
"Holly hell… We're freaking out," wrote Meredith Woerner on io9 when the news broke. "We're freaking out."
Jeff O'Neal on Book Riot says he was only "academically interested" in the new show until he saw the new trailer. Now, he says, it's "officially time to get excited".
Betsy Walsh on Odyssey agrees.
She believes American Gods is "culturally necessary" and relevant because it deals with traditional religion and what we are replacing it with – patriotism and digital addiction.
Walsh also reassures fans that while the series expands its scope beyond the book, Gaiman is on board so "you won't feel betrayed".
But Abraham Riesman on Vulture thinks it could be a bad idea. Gaiman is "one of the greatest sci-fi/fantasy writers of his generation", he says, but his 2001 novel "has not aged well".
Even when the book hit the shelves, the novel's central gods-vs-technology conflict seemed a bit dated, adds the critic. "Now it's downright cringe-inducing."
In addition, the uncomfortable depictions of race and gender may have worked in the text, but TV has made so many gains against stereotyping since then, argues Riesman.
The source material is "extremely entertaining" and the show's creators are smart, so maybe they can correct the course, he continues. But we shouldn't "rush to anoint this upcoming text-to-TV translation as the next mind-blowing thing quite yet".
American Gods begins in the US on 30 April on Starz and on Amazon Prime UK from 1 May.
-
August 23 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday's political cartoons include deficit dimness, steamroller-in-chief, and more
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purgeCartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Friendship: 'bromance' comedy starring Paul Rudd and Tim RobinsonThe Week Recommends 'Lampooning and embracing' middle-aged male loneliness, this film is 'enjoyable and funny'
-
The Count of Monte Cristo review: 'indecently spectacular' adaptationThe Week Recommends Dumas's classic 19th-century novel is once again given new life in this 'fast-moving' film
-
Death of England: Closing Time review – 'bold, brash reflection on racism'The Week Recommends The final part of this trilogy deftly explores rising political tensions across the country
-
Sing Sing review: prison drama bursts with 'charm, energy and optimism'The Week Recommends Colman Domingo plays a real-life prisoner in a performance likely to be an Oscars shoo-in
-
Kaos review: comic retelling of Greek mythology starring Jeff GoldblumThe Week Recommends The new series captures audiences as it 'never takes itself too seriously'
-
Blink Twice review: a 'stylish and savage' black comedy thrillerThe Week Recommends Channing Tatum and Naomi Ackie stun in this film on the hedonistic rich directed by Zoë Kravitz
-
Shifters review: 'beautiful' new romantic comedy offers 'bittersweet tenderness'The Week Recommends The 'inventive, emotionally astute writing' leaves audiences gripped throughout
-
How to do F1: British Grand Prix 2025The Week Recommends One of the biggest events of the motorsports calendar is back and better than ever
