Starz’s chief Chris Albrecht appears to have misspoken at the Television Critics Association semi-annual press tour. While discussing the embattled second season of ‘American Gods’, which lost its showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, Albrecht said “Neil Gaiman will be taking more of a central role and moving forward into a more traditional showrunner function and we’re looking for a partner for him who can ensure that the television part of this gets appropriate attention.”
“Showrunner function” does not appear to be the same thing as being the showrunner. After this story spread, Gaiman turned to his Twitter account to clarify the matter.
I’m already showrunning GOOD OMENS and I won’t be physically showrunning two shows. But I plan to work really closely with the new showrunner, and to help plot and guide and build American Gods, just as I did when Bryan & Michael came on as showrunners.
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) January 12, 2018
Albrecht also stated that Fuller and Green were not fired and did not quit and that they would be involved with ‘American Gods’ “as much as they can be.”
As Gaiman stated, he is busy showrunning his Amazon miniseries ‘Good Omens’ about a demon, Crowley played by David Tennant and an angel, Aziraphale, played by Michael Sheen, who work together to prevent the apocalypse because they are too accustomed to their comfortable lives on Earth. This six-episode miniseries is expected to become available in 2019.
At this point, there’s no telling when ‘American Gods’ will be back on Starz. The first season debuted last April to rave reviews and great ratings and was promptly renewed for a second installment. But in November, showrunners Fuller and Green stepped away after financial and creative disagreements with production company FreemantleMedia. Just over a week ago, Gillian Anderson, who starred in Season One as Media, the chameleon-like god of pop culture, announced that she would not be returning to the series. There was some question as to whether fellow cast member, Kristin Chenoweth would return, but Albrecht assured: “Kristin is still committed to the show, obviously depending on her schedule.”
‘American Gods’ also stars Ian McShane, Ricky Whittle, Yetide Badaki, Emily Browning, Bruce Langley, Pablo Schreiber and Crispin Glover with recurring appearances by Demore Barnes, Orlando Jones and Chris Obi. The first season also featured guest appearances by Corbin Bernsen, Jeremy Davies, Cloris Leachman and Peter Stormare.
Here’s hoping that these problems subside soon and production on this hit series resumes soon, before the heat it generated during Season One cools.
