Bilquis: American Gods actress talks about what makes her god different

The second episode of American Gods season 2 shines a light on Bilquis, and the American Gods actress who plays her is loving every minute of it.

That actress is Yetide Badaki and she spoke to SYFY Wire about her character and why she is so important.

According to Badaki, Bilquis is very different from the others on American Gods. She does not care about greed or pride. She is someone who scares all the other gods — on both sides — because she has other wants they do not understand.

Badaki even said that she feels that neither side is headed in the right direction.

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According to the American Gods actress, Bilquis will thrive this season because she can look back into history and pull out moments that caused movements to succeed and use that knowledge to build power by mixing it with what she knows about now.

For some history, Bilquis is one of the old gods, the ancient goddess of love. This is the character that had the infamous moment in season 1 where she swallowed a man whole in a very unique and disturbing way.

She craves the worship and desire that she had years past and wants to gain that love again. The original Queen of Sheba was left homeless recently when people forgot about her. She also has connections on both sides, as it was shown that she worked with Technical Boy, despite being one of the old gods.

On episode two of season two, “The Beguiling Man,” Bilquis had a one-on-one with Mr. World (Crispin Glover) and it was clear that he respected her, and she respected him, but she makes it clear she does not want this war.

Wednesday (Ian McShane) also doesn’t trust her and she seems to be the one who is the most honest. She wants nothing to do with either group.

There is also the fact that Mr. Nancy (Orlando Jones) has an infatuation with her and Jones himself said that he supports Bilquis, which means that she is more important to Wednesday’s side than he wishes she was.

As for Yetide Badaki, the Walking Dead actress who plays Bilquis said that she is proud of how her character is betrayed, pointing out that there were four female directors who worked on this season and they brought out what was important in a strong female character.

"“You have all these incredible, powerful women coming in with their viewpoints as well. Bilquis evolves, which is interesting because evolve or die is the message.”"

American Gods airs on Sunday nights on Starz.