The first season of Neil Gaiman’s beloved novel American Gods was a hit for Starz. Not only did the show capture the essence of the Hugo and Nebula award-winning novel, but was a visual smorgasbord that delivered the zany world of Old and New Gods effectively. Centering on newly released convict Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) as he meets Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane) and is slowly introduced to the world beneath the world, where he learns that Gods do exist, but also learns that they are in the processed of being replaced. When people came to America, they brought their cultural traditions (and deities) with them. Norse Gods, African Trickster Gods, Slavic Gods, Gods of Death, Gods of Dawn, Leprechauns, and even hundreds of different ethnic versions of Jesus (Mr. Wednesday says, “Well there’s a lot of need for Jesus, so there is a lot of Jesus). But old traditions change. The world now has new things to believe in, like computers and the internet, Media, the government, the stock market, and globalism. The Old Gods aren’t going to go away quietly, so they are going to go to war with the New Gods.
The first season of American Gods ended with Easter, the Goddess of Dawn siding with Wednesday and the Old Gods as she unleashes her powers to create a drought over America, forcing people to believe in the Old Gods once more. While the first season oriented Shadow (and therefore us) to the world of Old and New Gods as they strategized, planned, and executed a few silos against each other, now in season 2, it’s time for the Gods to face off against each other to see who will remain for humans to worship.
