Gaiman recently turned in the third draft of the pilot script and said it had been very well-received, with an expectation that the project will move ahead at some point. Gaiman said that for the TV show he has radically expanded on the original novel, with new scenes showing the bank robbery that went wrong and landed Shadow in prison. Apparently HBO were concerned about these deviations from the book, so the new scenes have been moved from the start of the episode to later on and reframed as flashbacks.
When we might get a firm commitment from HBO is unknown. HBO's hour-long drama roster is pretty full at the moment, which some have suggested is the reason why both American Gods and their I, Claudius adaptation (which, it is speculated, will be both an adaptation of the Graves novels and also a long-term sequel to HBO's Rome, possibly using that series' still-standing sets in Italy) have not yet moved forwards.
I thought this was a rumor that wasn't true. Didn't Neil Gaiman dispel it over twitter?
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ReplyDeleteWhat Gaiman said was that the show had not been picked up and greenlit. It was still - and is still - 'in development' at HBO. HBO have still optioned it and are still looking to make it if they like the pilot script (which, according to Gaiman himself, they do).
Given the number of times Gaiman himself has discussed the project, said he's working on the script etc I have no idea why people seem to think the project was never in development in the first place.
Knowing that this could be on the air at some point makes me really wish I had HBO!
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