Expect more episodes for Season 2 of Starz’s “American Gods, showrunner Bryan Fuller told TheWrap following the Season 1 finale of the Starz drama.
Season 1 of the series adapted from the novel by Neil Gaiman consisted of 8 episodes, but expect 10 episodes for Season 2 and, perhaps, a faster-paced story.
“Much of the pacing and dreamlike quality of Season 1 was about Shadow Moon’s (Ricky Whittle) mental state, and now that he’s been activated [as a believer], we can expect something a little different from how we’re going to tell the stories,” Fuller previewed.
Whittle’s character made a huge transformation in the Season 1 finale when Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane) revealed his true identity – the Norse god Odin – and Shadow subsequently became a believer.
“Whenever anyone engages in a faith bargain and they commit to it, they change their perspective in a massive way,” Fuller said. “So the story we get to tell with Shadow in the future is one of a character who’s crossed that first benchmark, which was non-believer to believer. Now that he believes, how does he believe? And how will what’s happened with his wife and Mr. Wednesday shift those beliefs? Suffice to say, Shadow will have a much more exciting arc in Season 2 than he did in Season 1.”
Season 1 ended with Wednesdays’ revelation and Shadow’s transformation, but originally, Fuller and co-showrunner Michael Green had planned a different ending.
“Originally, we had another episode and we were going to go all the way to House on the Rock,” he said, citing budgetary reasons for cutting the number of episodes in the season. “We felt if we ended the season one episode earlier, we could have a bigger impact with the story, and also distribute our funds to get the season to where we needed it to go.”
The season ends with just a brief tag of the aforementioned House on the Rock, with the god Bilquis (Yetide Badaki) arriving with mysterious intentions after a meeting with Technical Boy (Bruce Langley) earlier in the episode.
“Essentially, we leave her as a double agent,” Fuller said. “Someone who is in league with the New Gods, crashing the Old Gods’ party. What will become of that is an exciting storyline that will triangulate Bilquis with characters in the main story in a very exciting way.”
Fuller also credits the close cast for inspiring the writing of unusual character developments that diverge from the book.
“We see actors who genuinely love each other and are approaching us and saying, ‘please, please, please find ways for us to be in scenes together,’” he said. “Every time we get together, Yetide and Emily [Browning, who plays Laura Moon] double down on Bilquis and Laura needing a storyline in Season 2, and we are very excited to oblige that.”