'American Gods' Release Date, Plot News: Series Gets April Television Premiere

By Denise See, Christian Post Contributor Saturday, February 25, 2017

The highly anticipated show "American Gods" has officially been given a premiere date on Starz. But before its small screen debut in April, the upcoming Norse mythology series will first head to the South by Southwest festival on March 11.

According to Deadline, "American Gods" will hit Starz on Sunday night, April 30. The series is based on Neil Gaiman's novel of the same name and was developed for television by Bryan Fuller and Michael Green. After its premiere at the SXSW festival, Fuller and Green, along with several of the show's cast members, will be taking the stage to answer questions.

New key art from "American Gods" has also been released. It depicts two men - presumably the lead characters, Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) and Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane) - standing by a car in the midde of nowhere as dark clouds loom on the horizon. Also, with its neon sign title, it is noticed that the only letters that light up spell out: "Am I A God."

For those who are unaware, the basic premise of the series tells the story of Shadow, an ex-con dealing with his wife's recent death. He crosses paths with Mr. Wednesday, who is revealed to be an ancient Norse god on a quest to reclaim his reign from the New Gods who offer technology, money and more.

While the show deals with the conflict between the Old Gods and the New Gods, Gaiman has said that "American Gods" will also deal with other important characters, including Shadow's wife, Laura Moon (Emily Browning).

"Lots of things that are implied or hinted at in the book now get entire episodes," Gaiman said while speaking to The Wall Street Journal. "Episode 4 is all about Shadow's wife - his dead wife Laura - from their first - before they'd ever met, four years before. And you get to follow their course of their relationship and find out what happened to her and you get to find out what she's doing in the story."

"American Gods" premieres on April 30 at 9 p.m. ET on Starz.