LOS ANGELES, July 1 (UPI) -- An American Gods series is in the works at Starz.
The network has made a script-to-series commitment to adapt Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel into a television program. Bryan Fuller (Hannibal) and Michael Green (Heroes) have signed on as showrunners, and will co-executive produce with Gaiman. FreemantleMedia North America will produce the show.
The urban fantasy bestseller is set in the present day, and centers on mysterious ex-con Shadow. He discovers his wife Laura died while he was in prison, and he takes a job as another conman's bodyguard. His employer, Mr. Wednesday, is much more than he seems, and Shadow is sucked into a war between the Old Gods of mythology and the New Gods of modern day.
"When you create something like American Gods, which attracts fans and obsessives ... it's really important to pick your team carefully," Gaiman said in a statement. "You don't want to let the fans down, or the people who care and have been casting it online since the dawn of recorded history."
"What I love most about the team who I trust to take it out to the world is that they are the same kind of fanatics that American Gods has attracted from the start," he continued. "The team at Starz have been quite certain that they wanted to give Shadow, Wednesday and Laura a home since they first heard that the book was out there. I can't wait to see what they do to bring the story to the widest possible audience able to cope with it."
