Starz has given a greenlight to FremantleMedia North America’s (FMNA) adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed contemporary fantasy novel American Gods. Bryan Fuller (“Hannibal,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Heroes”) and Michael Green (“The River,” “Kings,” “Heroes”), will pen and showrun the series. Gaiman will also executive produce the series. FremantleMedia North America will produce. Start of production is dependent on casting the lead role of “Shadow Moon.”

Starz CEO Chris Albrecht said, “STARZ is committed to bring American Gods to its legions of fans. With our partners at FremantleMedia and with Bryan, Michael and Neil guiding the project, we hope to create a series that honors the book and does right by the fans, who have been casting it in their minds for years. The search for Shadow begins today!”

Commented Neil Gaiman, "I am thrilled, ‎scared, delighted, nervous and a ball of glorious anticipation. The team that is going to bring the world of American Gods to the screen has been assembled like the master criminals in a caper movie: I'm relieved and confident that my baby is in good hands. Now we finally move to the exciting business that fans have been doing for the last dozen years: casting our Shadow, our Wednesday, our Laura..."

Commented Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, “Almost 15 years ago, Neil Gaiman filled a toy box with gods and magic and we are thrilled to finally crack it open and play. We're grateful to have STARZ above us and FremantleMedia at our backs as we appease the gods, American or otherwise."

Craig Cegielski, Co-CEO, FremantleMedia North America said “’American Gods’ has been the passion project for us at FMNA since Stefanie Berk brought this exceptional piece of literature to the company when she joined two years ago. Chris, Carmi and the entire team at Starz are committed partners, sharing the same creative vision and ambition for this series. Neil’s novel is a brilliant work of art, and together with the talented Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, we are committed to delivering a series that is nothing short of extraordinary.”

The 2001 novel has been translated into over 30 languages and earned numerous accolades including Hugo, Nebula and Bram Stoker Awards for Best Novel. The plot posits a war brewing between old and new gods: the traditional gods of biblical and mythological roots from around the world steadily losing believers to an upstart pantheon of gods reflecting society’s modern love of money, technology, media, celebrity and drugs. Its protagonist, Shadow Moon, is an ex-con who becomes bodyguard and traveling partner to Mr. Wednesday, a conman but in reality one of the older gods, on a cross-country mission to gather his forces in preparation to battle the new deities.

FremantleMedia North America’s Craig Cegielski and Stefanie Berk will executive produce the series along with Bryan Fuller, Michael Green and Neil Gaiman. Senior Vice President of Original Programming Ken Segna will be the Starz executive in charge of “American Gods.” Starz will retain all network pay TV and SVOD rights to the project. FremantleMedia will distribute the series worldwide.

Fans can tweet @AmericanGodsSTZ and @STARZ_Channel using the hashtag #CastingShadow to share who they think should play the role of “Shadow Moon.”

The book was great and i see a lot of potential in this adaptation but Starz!? Why not stay with Hbo?

Neat.

What are they going to do after the first season? The book only has enough content for one season and since it's only sequel was more a spin off, are they going to write original stories for season 2?

Loved the book. I'll be checking this out.

@asgaard: Whats wrong with Starz?

I thought this was still in development from HBO, guess it didn't fall through.

Anyway, I liked the book, I'll definitely be checking this out.

Bryan fuller and Gaiman? This can not go wrong at all

~MiB

I was not a fan of the book. Good for everyone else though

In my perspective the quality level is very below Hbo...

Love the book. Cannot wait to see this story on screen.

Yes. I will definitely check it out.

Loved the book. Should be an interesting series.

I trust Bryan Fuler and Michael Green has been o several solid if underratd (literally their audience ratings were bad) projects

Cool.

Dope, should be a 10-12 episode miniseries though....and I would like to see Anansi boys developed too

There is no way I can trust stars as far as quality is concerned. I hope to be proven wrong, but someone is going to have to convince me otherwise until then.

I have yet to read American gods, it's been next on my booklist for awhile. Everyone I've spoken to who's read through it have given nothing but praise for the book. Can't wait to pick it up..

Also curious why they'd choose Starz as their springboard and not other more popular premium cable channels like HBO or Showtime. Looks like I'll have to wait for Amazon to pick up the first season.

Commented Neil Gaiman, "I am thrilled, ‎scared, delighted, nervous and a ball of glorious anticipation"

You and me both. Anansi Boys was the first book of his I read, and after finding out it was a sequel to American Gods, I quickly picked it up and read it next. I really hope this goes well.