Ian McShane will play Mr. Wednesday on the upcoming television series adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods
Dubbing today “Wonderful Wednesday” American Gods‘ Neil Gaiman and Bryan Fuller have today announced via social media that Ian McShane (Deadwood) has signed on to play Mr. Wednesday in their Starz series based on Gaiman’s besteller. Ian McShane joins a cast that already includes Ricky Whittle as Shadow Moon.
“I’m called Glad-of-War, Grim, Raider, and Third,” says the ancient god of his own history in the novel. “I am One-Eyed. I am called Highest, and True-Guesser. I am Grimnir, and I am the Hooded One. I am All-Father, and I am Gondlir Wand-Bearer. I have as many names as there are winds, as many titles as there are ways to die. My ravens are Huginn and Muninn, Thought and Memory; my wolves are Freki and Geri; my horse is the gallows.”
“When you write a beloved character (beloved with, or despite, or because of all his faults) like Mr. Wednesday, you get to watch the internet trying to cast the role,” says Gaiman. “I’ve seen a hundred names suggested, but few make me grin like Ian McShane does. I’ve already been lucky enough to have him in one film (he was bright blue in it, animated, and probably Polish). Now I count myself even luckier: he’s made the journey from ‘Lovejoy’ to ‘American Gods.’ Yesterday was Super Tuesday. Today is Wonderful Wednesday.”
“Actor. Icon. And now god,” add Fuller and Green. “It is a goddamn delight to be collaborating with the incomparable Ian McShane – again and for the first time – on a story about faith and belief, with the utmost faith and belief in Mr. McShane as our Mr. Wednesday. A wonderful Wednesday indeed.”
American Gods been translated into over 30 languages and earned numerous accolades including Hugo, Nebula and Bram Stoker Awards for Best Novel. The plot posits a war brewing between old and new gods: the traditional gods of mythological roots from around the world steadily losing believers to an upstart pantheon of gods reflecting society’s modern love of money, technology, media, celebrity and drugs. Its protagonist, Shadow Moon, is an ex-con who becomes bodyguard and traveling partner to Mr. Wednesday, a conman but in reality one of the older gods, on a cross-country mission to gather his forces in preparation to battle the new deities.
What do you think of Ian McShane as Mr. Wednesday? Was their anyone else you wanted to see in the role? Let us know in the comments below!
(Photo credit: Patrick Hoffmann / WENN.com)
