In time, all good things must come to an end, and in American Gods’ case, that time came at some point after the first season finale when Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, American Gods’ original showrunners, promptly exited the series, citing issues with budgeting and creative decisions. American Gods ran for two more seasons, mind you. They just weren’t particularly interesting.
Deadline reports that Starz has sent Neil Gaiman’s American Gods adaptation to the gallows after three wildly uneven seasons that saw multiple cast members including Orlando Jones, Gillian Anderson, Kristin Chenoweth, Pablo Schreiber, Mousa Kraish, and Chris Obi gradually leave the series with a swiftness that made the writing on the wall quite easy to interpret. Despite Starz’ finally coming the realisation that audiences have directed their viewing-cum-worship elsewhere, Deadline also reports that the network may be considering closing out the live-action series’ story as much as possible with a TV film set after the events of the third season’s finale.
We live in an age where cancelled TV shows coming back to life in slightly different forms is a rather common occurrence, but one of American Gods’ biggest problems right up until the end was how the show really never got a handle on how to synthesise the essence of Neil Gaiman’s original novel into something that could properly fit on the small screen. If Starz couldn’t pull that sort of feat off with multiple seasons of television, it’s debatable whether the network could or should try to wrap things up with yet another go at making this work.
Considering how abruptly the show came to an end, though, the network might feel the need to give its characters at least a little bit of closure, especially if it can scrounge up the budget to give them one last sendoff.
[referenced id=”1663445″ url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2021/01/american-gods-season-3-wont-stop-even-though-youve-heard-this-one-before/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/12/sx0pttb0jzpnrpwvry5i-e1610397192232-300×149.png” title=”American Gods’ Season 3 Won’t Stop, Even Though You’ve Heard This One Before” excerpt=”American Gods spent trying to claw its way out of production hell before coming to Starz. Now, it’s one of the shows returning in 2021 after weathering the ongoing covid-19 pandemic that continues to devastate the entertainment industry. It’s almost miraculous to consider, given the on-set upheavals and exits that…”]