American Gods names new showrunner for Season 2
By Shawn Lealos
When Bryan Fuller came on to run the first season of American Gods, it resulted in a magnificent start to the Neil Gaiman adapted series.
However, Fuller left after just the one season and fans started to panic. The man who created such amazing worlds in Pushing Daisies and Hannibal was a huge reason the first season was able to flesh out Gaiman’s story in such a magnificent manner. However, all the work the Fuller put into the show came with a price tag, and Starz was not willing to pay that price for a second season.
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While the first season of American Gods was a critical smash hit, it was not a ratings’ bonanza, but much of that has to do with it airing on Starz, to begin with. They wanted to keep costs down, and Fuller said he would rather leave than put out a lesser product. Now, it turns out this reasoning may not be entirely true.
The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Starz has signed a new, yet familiar face, to run the second season of American Gods. Jesse Alexander will step up and become the new showrunner for the next season of the series. While Alexander is not a household name, he did work with Bryan Fuller on both Hannibal and Star Trek: Discovery, so American Gods fans are getting someone who knows the style of TV making that Fuller made famous.
This does not mean that Alexander will be able to replicate Fuller’s vision the same way as the original auteur, but Neil Gaiman said that he would step up and help plot and guide American Gods with Alexander the same way that he did with Fuller and Green.
I'm already showrunning GOOD OMENS and I won't be physically showrunning two shows. But I plan to work really closely with the new showrunner, and to help plot and guide and build American Gods, just as I did when Bryan & Michael came on as showrunners.
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) January 12, 2018
As that tweet suggests, Gaiman is running the show on the upcoming adaptation of his equally amazing Good Omens novel that he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett. However, Gaiman sounds like he will be there to help Alexander get situated and will make himself available to work with the new American Gods showrunner as needed.
"“I’m thrilled that Jesse is [the] showrunner. He loves and understands the book, he loves and understands the TV series and he’s dedicated to making future seasons of American Gods as good and as beautiful and as unique as they can be.”"
Interestingly, while the budget reasons were given for Bryan Fuller leaving, The Hollywood Reporter indicates that Starz fired the showrunner, partially because Neil Gaiman was not happy with the direction that he was taking American Gods.
Next: ‘American Gods’ loses showrunner Bryan Fuller
If this is true, the amazing visuals may suffer, but the series will remain closer to the source material with a new man in charge.