American Gods drops season 3 premiere date, letter from Neil Gaiman: "America must be for all of us"
Aux Features TV
Back in December, former American Gods star Orlando Jones revealed his ouster from the series as well as alleged discriminatory behavior from embattled producer Fremantle. The kerfuffle definitely loomed over the recently released season three teaser, which largely featured Shadow (played by Ricky Whittles, who Jones called out for his lack of support). Now, weeks after our first peek at the upcoming season, Starz has released the official premiere date and a letter from creator Neil Gaiman.
“When we embarked upon making Season Three of ‘American Gods,’ we had no idea how timely it would turn out to be,” Gaiman began. “We knew we wanted to return to what people loved and responded to in the book: that it was time for Shadow to go to the little town of Lakeside and try to lose himself in normality.” The author went on to note that the season would look at the individual characters’ respective journeys as well as immigration and “what ‘America’ means to its people.”
The new season begins around Chapter Nine of the book series with Shadow Moon hiding out from the New Gods in a sub-zero town suddenly plagued by mystical forces. Former Walking Dead EP Charles “Chic” Eglee, who Jones blasted as an out of touch “Connecticut-born, Yale-educated” man who deemed his Mr. Nancy “too angry,” serves as this season’s showrunner after original adapters Bryan Fuller and Michael Green and season two showrunner Jesse Alexander had all left the show. Gaiman, however, assures that the show is back on track…. allegedly.
“America must be for all of us, and “American Gods” must reflect that. This season truly feels as if it does,” Gaiman asserts. Fans will find out for sure when the series returns January 10, 2021. Check out his full letter below.
When we embarked upon making Season Three of “American Gods,” we had no idea how timely it would turn out to be. We knew we wanted to return to what people loved and responded to in the book: that it was time for Shadow to go to the little town of Lakeside and try to lose himself in normality.
And at the same time, in Season Three, we wanted to focus on the characters and their journeys. To show Shadow forging a path guided by the Gods of his ancestors, becoming more himself while deciding who he is and what side he’s on — humanity’s or that of the Gods.
We knew also that we wanted to continue to root the show in the landscapes of America. To explore what “America” means to its people and to talk about immigrants — about the very different people who came to this remarkable land and brought their gods with them. The new gods of phone and app and glitter demand our attention and our love, and the old gods want to mean something again.
America must be for all of us, and “American Gods” must reflect that. This season truly feels as if it does. It’s full of drama and emotion, the very real and the utterly strange, and it features some of the finest performances the show has yet seen. It brings back favorite characters, some in remarkable new ways, and we will encounter people and gods we’ve never met before. I’m proud of our brilliant cast — of Ricky and Emily, of Yetide and Ian, Bruce, Demore, Omid and all the rest — and of what the writers have done to bring the story back on track.
The struggles of the gods and the people in Season Three of “American Gods” are the struggles of America. We didn’t think it would prove as timely when we plotted it, nor did I think the novel would still be relevant when I wrote it over 20 years ago. But I’m glad it’s happening now, in a year when it feels as though diverse stories are being heard, and honored, and allowed to change the future.
Thank you so much,
Neil Gaiman
21 Comments
No Orlando Jones – no me. Can’t wait to hear this show was cancelled.
I don’t expect that any amount of damage control is going to salvage the show at this point.
I guess it’s gonna be another one of those where we all just pretend it ended after first season.
Having completely lost all initiative to watch the second season (which has been on my DVR since it aired) other than the first episode, I feel like I’ve defaulted to this already.
We *loved* the first season, but the second just lost whatever magic it had.
Can’t believe they are paying for a third, I don’t know anyone who was asking for it.
With the amount of everything that has continuously gone wrong it’s kind of amazing it keeps going. Is Starz just sitting back throwing money at it sadistically watching the trainwrecks pile up on each other?
Maybe Gaiman’s really good at getting insane contract commitments? I saw he was on Twitter the other day suggesting that Netflix’s The Sandman adaptation somehow has safeguards to prevent it being cancelled early:It’s probably just his ego being unable to comprehend any possibility other than the show becoming an instant juggernaut success, but if he was genuinely able to wrangle some sort of meaningful guarantee, then maybe he’s done it more than once.
It’s not like he’s short on TV experience – Neverwhere was a show before it was a book – so it’s easier to believe that he’s finagled something than that he’s in denial.
It would be, except that “we won’t cancel your show without warning” is basically unheard of, regardless of your status. Also, by the standards of TV, he’s very short on experience — before American Gods (and arguably not until season 2, which seems to be where he started to get more directly involved in the show), he’d barely dipped a toe into the medium.
I was just thinking this – all those great (or at least good) shows that get cancelled after a season yet this is still going? And it’s expensive as all get out from what I can tell.
“We knew we wanted to return to what people loved and responded to in the book”I thought that’s what they were trying last season, and it turned out people weren’t especially impressed.
idk, the show’s main problem is that by adding a bunch more encounters/setpieces, Shadow looked dumber and dumber for going along with Wednesday’s bullshit.The Lakeside segment, in extricating him from all that, might actually develop his character a bit better.
ugh, could have done without the reminder that the book came out twenty years ago. I’m so old.
Yeah, I’m just gonna pretend it doesn’t exist at this point.
Are we sure they dropped the premiere date?? It seems like they just announced it.
The odd thing is that Ricky Whittle himself suffered notorious discrimination on The 100, which is why he left the show in favor of American Gods in the first place, so you’d think he’d be all over helping Jones.
Just because an actor complains doesn’t mean the other actors agree or need to support him. We have no idea if Jones is right or wrong. I do know that most people hate to get fired. But often there was a good reason why it happened.
I wonder how they are going to course correct if there’s a fourth season, is there any chance they’d honestly bring back any favorite cast or crew members or have too many bridges been burnt? (Jones and Betty Gilpin could go a long way. Assuming the latter wasn’t killed off last season somehow.)
When we embarked upon making Season Three of “American Gods,” we had no idea how timely it would turn out to be.
“America is a mess, and so is our show.”
It does seem like Jones got the shaft from the new showrunner (and possibly the cold shoulder from the rest of the cast?), however…his character was next to useless in S2. Granted, it wasn’t the worst problem with S2 and they really could’ve dumped him with far less acrimony.I guess I’ll wait to see how reviews pan out for the new season before watching it. It’s not impossible that they might make a course-correct, but I’m not optimistic.
The only reason I’d watch S3 is if Ricky Whittle gets naked in every ep. Until then… not a chance.