Amazon adaptation Gaiman won’t feature Orlando Jones

Despite spitting in the two seasons before its cancellation after season three, Starz live action American gods adaptation was one of the network’s firsts impressive feats of genre storytelling who, at least initially, had the promise of paving the way for more stories in a world where gods and monsters walked among mortals and, at times, went to war. This series may be over, but one of its key characters is about to live a second life through a new Amazon show.

Amazon Studios announced that a Anansi boys The series is currently in development as part of Neil Gaiman’s overall deal at the studio. Like the novel, Anansi boys will tell the story of Charlie and his brother Spider, the sons of Anansi whose lives are deeply interconnected in ways neither of them fully grasp. Although Amazon’s press release on the series mentions American gods novel, it very clearly omits any reference to the Starz adaptation. According to the hollywood reporter, Orlando Jones, who portrays Anansi at American gods” the first two seasons, will not reprise the role.

In a blog post about the new series, Gaiman recalled how the idea of ​​becoming Mr. Nancy first came to him while working on Never nowhere with co-creator Lenny Henry, who also founded the production company behind the series. Although Gaiman initially set out to write a horror film telling the story of two black brothers whose father was a deity, his ideas were eventually incorporated into American gods‘Mr. Nancy, the novel about Anansi, the trickster deity featured in many Ghanaian and other Akan tales.

Gaiman explained how, after writing Anansi boys—an independent novel with links to American gods who explored the life of Anansi and his sons Fat Charlie and Spider-there was some interest from an anonymous director who wanted to secure the rights for an adaptation. However, the director wanted all the main characters to be white, and so nothing came out of this potential project, and development on any Anansi boys adaptation blocked. But that changed when Gaiman met producer Hilary Bevan Jones and RED’s Richard Fee, who both wanted to work to tell the story. Anansi boys Gaiman had imagined. “Somewhere around 2016 I agreed to work on it to help get it done, but we all knew we had to be patient while I was writing and doing Good omens“said Gaiman.” Amazon had loved doing Good omens, and were blown away by the audience numbers and the reaction to it, and wanted to do more things with me, so Endor [Productons] and RED now had a place to do it.

In addition to co-showrunning with Douglas Mackinnon, Gaiman will write the first and last of Anansi boys‘six episodes. Lenny Henry will be both executive producer and writer on the series, along with Kara Smith, Racheal Ofori and Arvind Ethan David. There’s no word on when Anansi boys will air, but filming for the series is slated to begin in Scotland this year, and it will also shoot in South Africa. While it would have been great to see the live action from Starz Anansi live in American gods‘spiritual successor, a clean break from the other series could give the new series a chance to properly reintroduce itself to audiences, presenting the story it is based on as its own story worth exploring. when the series finally arrives on Amazon Prime.

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