Starz finally has a lead star for American Gods, an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed novel. Ricky Whittle, an up-and-coming actor who appears in The CW’s The 100, will star as Shadow Moon.
The series will start shooting in April and will be produced by FremantleMedia North America for Starz. Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies) and Michael Green (Heroes, Kings) are the showrunners.
A series adaptation of American Gods has been in the work for years before it finally landed at Starz in July 2014. A year later, Starz greenlit the series.
The novel was published in 2001 and centers on a war between gods based on mythological characters who are losing to new gods created by today’s increasing obsession with money and technology. Shadow Moon (Whittle) is an ex-con who works for Mr. Wednesday, a conman who is actually one of the older gods.
“I'm thrilled that Ricky has been cast as Shadow,” Gaiman said in a statement. “His auditions were remarkable. The process of taking a world out of the pages of a book, and putting it onto the screen has begun. American Gods is, at its heart, a book about immigrants, and it seems perfectly appropriate that Shadow will, like so much else, be Coming to America. I'm delighted Ricky will get to embody Shadow. Now the fun starts.”
Whittle’s credits include The 100, Mob City, NCIS and Mistresses.