STACK July 2017 Issue 153

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022 JULY 2017
visit DVD&BD FEATURE
First published in 2001 and winner of both
the Hugo and Nebula awards (recognising
the best in science fiction and fantasy
literature), American Gods is the story of
taciturn ex-con Shadow Moon, who takes a
job as bodyguard to enigmatic con artist Mr.
Wednesday and is subsequently dragged into
a war between the old gods of mythology and
the new gods who represent media, celebrity,
finance and technology.
It’s perhaps the darkest and most
confronting of celebrated British writer Neil
Gaiman’s novels, sharing more in common
tonally with the work of Clive Barker than the
author’s more family-friendly fantasies like
Stardust, Coraline and The Graveyard Book.
This bizarre journey into mystical Americana
has now been adapted for television by Bryan
Fuller (Hannibal) and Michael Green (Heroes),
with Gaiman serving as an executive producer
on the ambitious and outlandish series.
“They wanted to make it as perfect as
possible because this book comes with quite a
reputation – there was a lot of pressure,”says
Ricky Whittle, who won the part of Shadow
following a five-month audition process he
describes as an insane experience – much like
the world his character becomes immersed in.
Having landed the role, Whittle began
reading the novel but was told to stop by the
showrunners. “It was influencing the way I
wanted to play the role,” he tells STACK. “In
the book, Shadow is very stoic, very quiet,
very internal with lots of inner monologue.
That’s great in a novel but it doesn’t translate
well to the screen. He was really blasé in the
book about all the craziness going on around
him, but I think you would freak out a bit more
if your dead wife turns up! Shadow is going
to ask a lot more questions in the show. He
still has those silent moments where he’s very
much an observer, but he needs to be more
interactive in order for viewers to become
invested in the character.
"He’s one of the only protagonists of a
TV show that I know who doesn’t push the
storyline – the storyline pushes him. He’s
basically a leaf in the stream and things just
British actor Ricky Whittle boldly ventures into the weird world of warring
deities in the highly anticipated television adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s
best-selling novel, American Gods. Words Scott Hocking
A