On May 11, Deadline announced that American Gods has been renewed for season 2 on Starz.
The news was announced just two weeks after the show premiered, and the next season is expected to come out in mid-2018. The number of episodes has not yet been announced.
Starz programming president, Carmi Zlotnik, said in a statement, “Bryan Fuller, Michael Green and Neil Gaiman have evolved the art form of television narratively, structurally and graphically with American Gods, and we’re thrilled to be working again with these artists as they continue to build the worlds and wars of the gods.” FreemantleMedia co-CEO Craig Cegielski added, “American Gods has been a ground-breaking series born out of belief and it’s thrilling to be partnered with Starz to continue this ambitious story.”
The first season of American Gods averaged a 0.27 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 705,000 viewers. Comparatively, the show’s highest-rated series, Power averaged a .89 rating and 1.938 million viewers. The network’s second-best show, Survivor’s Remorse, averaged a .37 rating and .860 million viewers.
American Gods is based on the book of the same name, written by Neil Gaiman. The show follows Shadow Moon, who meets a man named Mr. Wednesday after being released from prison. Shadow Moon unwittingly becomes involved in an epic battle between Old Gods and New Gods.
The show stars Ricky Whittle as former convict Shadow Moon, Emily Browning as Laura Moon, Crispin Glover as Mr. World, Bruce Langley as Technical Boy, and Yetide Badaki as Bilquis.
Last week, Neil Gaiman spoke to Variety about his experience developing the show. Asked what happens when you run out of text to adapt, Gaiman said, “By that time, one of two things will have happened. Either President Trump will have destroyed the world, or I will have written or be solidly into the ‘American Gods’ sequel.” Asked what he believes has been the most surprising reaction to the show, he said he was shocked that the Bilquis scene caused as much drama as it did. “I remember making it up 20 years ago. I threw it at the end of chapter one, figuring if people wanted to leave they could leave there. I was quite genuinely as excited by Yetide’s [Badaki] glorious performance and then by watching that set the world on fire the next day.”