This year is all about the book adaptations. It was recently announced that Neil Gaiman’s best selling fantasy novel “American Gods” will be adapted into a TV series and we are beyond excited to find out who’s going to play all the characters from the book. From Shadow to Mr Wednesday to Mr Nancy, there are just so many great characters from the book that we think should make an appearance in the series. With Bryan Fuller taking on TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods”, we’ve got a couple of people in mind that are most likely to play their parts in the TV series.
The casting possibilities are endless and we are sure that everyone would have imagined the characters with different looks but which actors do you think would resemble them the most? Check out our casting suggestion here:
1. Shadow Moon
Description: The book first introduced Shadow Moon as an ex-convict who spent 3 years of his life in the prison. He is described as a large man who had kept himself in shape in prison. Even though his look is intimidating, the 32-year-old man has a youthful face and he looks around 25-28 years of age. When he was hired by Mr Wednesday as a bodyguard, he was often mistaken as a Native American due to his subtle dark skin with unruly black hair and light grey eyes. It would be an interesting yet difficult casting for Shadow Moon as he is a man with mixed ancestry. Thus, the possibility of casting an actor with pale skin is rather low.
Cast suggestion: Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones), Jesse Williams (Grey’s Anatomy), Josh Holloway (Lost), Joe Manganiello (True Blood).
2. Mr Wednesday
Description: Mr Wednesday aka Odin the Old Norse God of knowledge and wisdom is the leader of Old Gods. With Shadow as his bodyguard, he manipulates Shadow with various schemes and tricks so that he can gather all the Old Gods to fight against America’s new Gods of technology before they get replaced. In his human form, Mr Wednesday has a craggy square face with reddish grey hair and pale grey eyes. He wears an expensive suit in the colour of melted vanilla ice cream and his tie is dark grey silk with a tree-shaped tie pin.
Cast suggestion: Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal), Stella Skarsgard (Thor), Brian Cox (Bourne Identity).
3. Mr Nancy
Description: As an old man who was always seen wearing chequered suit with a lime-green fedora and lemon-yellow gloves, Mr Nancy is one of the Old Gods recruited by Mr Wednesday. In Gaiman’s “Anansi Boy”, his son Charlie has always described him as a black man who spends his entire life chasing women, singing karaoke, and teasing his son with the nickname “Fat Boy Charlie” with his faint West Indian-ish accent. But of course, this is because he is the trickster Spider-god and he often teases Shadow in “American Gods” too. Although he is often seen as a relaxed person with endless humorous tales, he is loyal to Mr Wednesday’s cause and makes a strong presence in the book with his signature thin cigar.
Cast suggestion: Garrett Morris (The Jamie Foxx Show), Lance Reddick (Fringe).
4. Low Key Lyesmith/Loki
Description: We first met “Low Key Lyesmith” through Shadow as he is Shadow’s prison cell mate. He is described as a grifter from Minnesto and has orange blonde hair with a scarred smile on his face. Before Shadow left the prison, Low Key gave him a copy of Herodotus. In the later part of the story, Shadow met Low Key again and realised he is the trickster God Loki when he acts as the driver for him and Mr Wednesday. It was later revealed that he acts as a leader of the New Gods because the war between them is part of an elaborate two-man con run by him and Mr. Wednesday.
Cast suggestion: Billy Bob Thornton (Fargo), Robert Carlyle (Once Upon a Time), Robert Knepper (Prison Break), Lars Mikkelsen (Sherlock), Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders).
5. Czernobog
Description: Czernobog, the black God of woe, is often described as the evil God and appears as the antagonist in various media. In Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods, Czernobog appeared in the human form as a short old man with iron grey hair and a craggy face. His hands are rough and calloused with yellow finger tips. In a game of checkers against Shadow, he won the right to take Shadow’s life using his hammer.
Cast suggestion: David Bradley (Game of Thrones), John Noble (Fringe), Ian Mcshane.
6. The Techincal Boy
Description: The Technical Boy is one of the new Gods and the personification of technology in America. He is often called “the fat kid” with bad acne on his face and resembles the basement dweller who wears a long black coat of silky material, to look like the characters from The Matrix. Although he is the youngest God among the new Gods, he will eventually turn out to be the most powerful and ruthless of all the new Gods.
Cast suggestion: Jonah Hill (22 Jump Street), John Gemberling (Broad City), Dan Fogler (Hannibal).
7. Mad Sweeney
Description: Mad Sweeney is seen as an Irishman who drinks frequently and likes to fight for the joy of it. He is a tall man with a short ginger beard and calls himself “Leprechaun”, the king from old Irish story. He is often seen wearing a denim jacket with a stained white T-shirt underneath and often pulls coins out of thin air. In later part of the story, Shadow described him as a junkie leprechaun after Mad Sweeney demanded to take the coin that he has wrongly given to Shadow.
Cast suggestion: Sean Harris (Southcliffe), Kristofer Hivju (Game of Thrones), Denis Leary (The Amazing Spider-Man).
Do you agree with our dream cast? Think you can come up with better people to play the roles? Sounds off in the comments!