HBO
American Gods is going through some major changes for its second season, and it isn’t just about losing Bryan Fuller as the showrunner.
Of course, the biggest change comes with the departure of Bryan Fuller, who was completely responsible for the look of the show. Anyone who watched Pushing Daisies or Hannibal knows that Fuller has a distinct style and he really let it fly on American Gods.
However, the rumors have it that he was at odds creatively with Neil Gaiman — and it is Gaiman’s story. The budget was also growing, and with Starz nowhere near the level of a network like AMC or HBO, those higher budgets were not going to work.
Sadly, it also means the loss of Gillian Anderson, who played Media. With Anderson saying she was finished with X-Files after the recent season, she has now also said she is finished with American Gods. Her name is added to that of Kristin Chenoweth, who said she was leaving right after Fuller left the series (they worked together on Pushing Daisies).
According to TV Line, the part of Media will not only be recast but re-imagined. This is a nice move because replacing someone like Anderson is impossible. Instead, the character of Media that Anderson portrayed (TV and pop culture) will be replaced by Media that represents social media.
Not only that, but the series is looking for a 20-something Asian-woman to portray the role. With that in mind, here are five actresses that could fit the role of Media perfectly in American Gods season 2.
Paramount
Nikki SooHoo
Fans almost got a chance to see Nikki SooHoo show what she was capable of in a big TV role until the Parkland School shootings caused Paramount to postpone their television adaptation of Heathers. However, there are other places that fans can see what SooHoo is capable of.
She appeared in the Peter Jackson film The Lovely Bones in 2009 as well as the cheerleading movie sequel Bring It On: Fight to the Finish.
Related Story: Heathers Pilot Recap and Review
However, probably her most memorable role was in the gymnastics movie Stick It as Wei Wei Youg (she was the competitor who put the headphones on and did the balance bar routine to the K7 song “Come Baby Come.”
Of course, that doesn’t show why she is capable of playing someone like Media on American Gods — especially replacing someone like Gillian Anderson in the role. That might be the best point though. Don’t try to replace Anderson, but instead find someone very different to take on the role of social media.
Take a look at her acting reel, and it is clear that Nikki SooHoo can play manipulative as well as she did fun.
On top of the 2018 Paramount series Heathers, Nikki SooHoo also appeared on episodes of Private Practice, The War at Home, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, No Ordinary Family and Pretty Little Liars. Getting the role of Media in American Gods would be a great step for SooHoo when it comes to moving up into bigger roles.
CBS
Hayley Kiyoko
While Nikki SooHoo hasn’t had a chance to really take on a major role in television or the movies, if the producers of American Gods want to find someone with experience helping lead a television show, they can go with Hayley Kiyoko.
While only Asian by ancestry (her mother is from Canada but is of Japanese ancestry), she had a lot of experience on television and was one of the main stars of the spin-off procedural series CSI: Cyber. The fact that her role there was helping to solve cyber-crimes would be just a nice little Easter egg if she ended up playing the God of social media.
Related Story: American Gods names new showrunner for Season 2
Kiyoko is a former child star who started out as a commercial model before starting a garage band called Hede as a teenager. Another ironic moment for Kiyoko is that her band originally released their songs on MySpace — the first real social network.
In 2015, Kiyoko appeared in two major movies — the horror flick Insidious: Chapter 3 and the nostalgic remake of Jem and the Holograms (she was Aja Leith). She also had early roles in Wizards of Waverly Place and played Velma in a pair of Scooby-Doo movies (Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins and Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Laker Monster).
However, it was her role as Raven Ramirez that helped prove she could carry a major television series. She was one of the main stars for both seasons before the show was canceled. While she has started to focus on music again, she could be a great addition to the American Gods cast.
Freeform
Shay Mitchell
When it comes to successful television shows, there were few that hit it as big with the female demographic as Pretty Little Liars did from 2010-2017. Now that the show is over with, there are some very talented actresses ready for the next big thing, none more so that the show’s top stars, Shay Mitchell.
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Mitchell played Emily Fields and enjoyed a lot of success, especially when it came to the fans of the series. Mitchell picked up five nominations for the Teen Choice Awards — voted on by the fans of the show.
Mitchell, whose mother is of Filipino descent, started modeling as a young girl and ended up picking up a role in the Canadian series Degrassi: The Next Generation. She also had early roles on Rookie Blue and Aaron Stone.
However, it was Pretty Little Liars that made Mitchell a star and a role that she rode for seven years and 160 episodes. When the show ended, Mitchell quickly picked up a role almost immediately in the ABC pilot for The Heiresses. She also signed on for the lead role in the upcoming Lifetime series You.
The synopsis of that show is interesting — a love story about an obsessive, brilliant 20-something who uses today’s technology to make a woman fall in love with him. Modern day technology? 20-something? Sure, the description is of the male (maybe a modern-day Weird Science?), but Mitchell could play the role of Media perfectly.
Cast Shay Mitchell as Media on American Gods, and it could be the perfect fit.
ABC
Brenda Song
We are now to the person that could be the perfect actress to cast as the role of Media in American Gods. Brenda Song is 30, but she can play younger easily. She is not only of Asian descent, but her grandparents were from the Xiong clan. She is also a spectacular actress.
Song started her acting career at the age of seven, and she signed a deal with Disney in 2002 where she soon became a huge star for the company. Younger fans might recognize her as the lead female role in the Suite Life of Zack & Cody and The Suite Life on Deck.
Her movie roles include David Fincher’s The Social Network (her first major movie role), and her television roles include Scandal, New Girl, Pure Genius Superstore, and the 2018 series Station 19. She was so in demand, that Song signed a deal with Fox to work on their television shows, and they worked hard to find one that fit her.
The role on Station 19 was a multi-episode arc, and depending on her deal with Fox, she could be a great addition to American Gods as Media.
With Starz looking for a 20-something Asian actress, this could be a huge opportunity, especially since Song has said that most major TV roles are not looking for an Asian actress — instead, looking for “blue eyes and blond hair.”
Branda Song has proven through the years that she has the talent and American Gods would be better if they cast her for the role of Media.
Anna Akana
When it comes to Anna Akana, this is a choice that features a talented young woman — but also one that would be a meta choice, something American Gods has actually paid attention to with previous casting choices.
See, the role of Media in American Gods is all about moving away from the TV and pop culture media and focusing on the new world of social media. Anna Akana is a star because of new-world social media.
Akana became famous thanks to her YouTube channel — which now has over two million subscribers and over 200 million views. She decided to create the YouTube channel after her sister’s suicide and wanted to perform comedy after gaining inspiration from watching Margaret Cho.
After building her YouTube channel of original comedy — Akana started her career by making short films and documentaries — she gained popularity and got some opportunities outside of social media. She appeared on the TV series Awkward in 2011.
After that, she even got a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Ant-Man, her biggest opportunity to date. In 2017, she picked up a recurring role on Stitchers and this year she has a recurring role on Corporate.
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With her history in show business in mind, there might not be a more meta choice to star as Media on American Gods than Anna Akana — a young Asian woman who became popular due solely to social media.