Photo credit: Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com
Photo credit: Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

Starz adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s ‘American Gods‘ is coming together as they have just cast Ricky Whittle (‘The 100′,’Hollyoaks’) as Shadow Moon. We know that Starz has been going full steam on pre-production and as filming is set to begin this April, I suspect that we’ll be hearing quite a bit more casting news come out over the next month.

In Gaiman’s epic novel ‘American Gods,’ we are first introduced to Shadow Moon as an ex-convict who was recently paroled. Soon after he has his newly found freedom and against his better judgement he becomes the bodyguard for a con-man named Mr. Wednesday whose life is shrouded in mystery.

Bryan Fuller and Michael Green who are the showrunners on the series said that they have “searched every continent and country and all the islands in between for our Shadow Moon, and we are lucky to have found Ricky. Fans of the novel will find he has every bit of the heart of the character they fell in love with.”

Gaiman weighed in quite positively with his thoughts on the casting choice:

“I’m thrilled that Ricky has been cast as Shadow. His auditions were remarkable. The process of taking a world out of the pages of a book and putting it onto the screen has begun. American Gods is, at its heart, a book about immigrants, and it seems perfectly appropriate that Shadow will, like so much else, be coming to America. I’m delighted Ricky will get to embody Shadow. Now the fun starts.”

As the first major piece of casting for the show, I would hope that everyone involved had a positive view on it and it clearly seems that he’ll be fitting for the part. I was a huge fan of the novel when it was initially released and I’m interested in seeing what kind of unique take that Fuller plans to give us.

Do you think that Ricky Whittle will make a good choice to play Shadow Moon? Are you looking forward to the Starz adaptation of Gaiman’s ‘American Gods’? Share your thoughts below!

Source: The Hollywood Reporter