American Gods

Starz’s ‘American Gods’ is adding two new female characters for its sophomore season.  Based on Neil Gaiman‘s 2001 novel, the series chronicles the approach of a war between the gods of old and a new generation of high-tech gods of American culture.  Following the successful first season, ‘American Gods’ hit several snags, as showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green departed, followed by the scene-stealing Gillian Anderson, who portrayed Media, the modern god of television and movies.  But now it looks as though things are back on track and the show is moving forward by introducing new characters.

sakina jaffrey
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Sakina Jaffrey has been cast as Mama-Ji, the Hindu goddess of war, who like the other old gods, hides behind a mundane day-to-day identity in the modern world.  “A waitress at the Motel America… With her necklace of skulls, acerbic wit and free spirit, she’s a match for any mighty god or man.”

Jaffrey can currently been seen on the NBC time travel series ‘Timeless’.  She is also a veteran of series such as ‘Homeland’, ‘Mr. Robot’, ‘The Mindy Project’, ‘Sleepy Hollow’ and ‘House of Cards’.  She will be seen on the big screen in July in action thriller ‘The Equalizer 2’ starring Denzel Washington and Bill Pullman as well as in the quieter drama ‘Behold My Heart’ with Marisa Tomei and Timothy Olyphant.

The second new role has not been cast.  In fact, it appears that the producers are open to all interested parties, as detailed below:

SAM BLACKCROW: First Nation/Native American female age 18-mid-20s. She’s confident, engaging, headstrong, and has a free spirit personality. The role will shoot in Toronto from June through August 2018. Participants must be available for the entire span of time. Candidates can submit a photo and resume (if available) to americangodscasting@gmail.com

Jaffrey and the other new cast member will join the returning cast, led by Ian McShane and Ricky Whittle, plus Yetide Badaki, Emily Browning, Bruce Langley, Pablo Schreiber and Crispin Glover.  It is also expected that several guest-stars and recurring cast members from season one will also return, including Omid Abtahi, Demore Barnes, Corbin Bernsen, Kristin Chenoweth, Orlando Jones, Mousa Kraish, Cloris Leachman, Chris Obi and Peter Stormare.

‘American Gods’ resumed production last month, but Starz has not yet announced when the new episodes would air.

Source: Deadline