AMERICAN GODS cancelled at Starz

Starz has cancelled American Gods, its fantasy TV show based on a novel by Neil Gaiman, after three seasons, citing declining ratings.

The TV show, based on Gaiman's bestselling 2001 novel, has had a raucous and uncertain behind-the-scenes production. Original writer-showrunner Bryan Fuller drove the first season an astonishing $30 million over budget before clashing with executives over the budget for the second season. He was fired and replaced with Jesse Alexander, with Gaiman himself stepping up for an increased, unofficial role in the second season. Alexander exited the show before Season 2 aired, being replaced by producing director Chris Byrne and line producer Lisa Kussner on an interim basis. Charles Eglee  replaced them for the third season.

The show also experienced a high cast turnover, with Gillian Anderson and Kristin Chenoweth departing after Season 1 and Pablo Shreiber and Orlando Jones departing after Season 2 (the former after being cast as the lead in the Halo TV series), although the core cast of Ricky Whittle, Ian McShane, Emily Browning, Crispin Glover, Bruce Langley and Yetide Badaki remained intact.

Although the show was applauded for its performances and rich visual style, it was heavily criticised for stretching a single 500-page novel out across at least four seasons, resulting in a somnambulantly glacial pace. Its critical acclaim significantly dropped after the first season and ratings tumbled, with only around a third of the Season 1 audience sticking around for a third season.

Production company Fremantle are now in talks for a TV movie to wrap up the story (Season 3 ended barely 40 pages from the end of the novel, allowing for a relatively speedy wrap-up), although Starz are reportedly lukewarm on the prospects.

Gaiman is currently producing an adaptation of his Sandman graphic novel series for Netflix.

Black Sails: Season 4

The war for Nassau and the Bahamas takes a surprising turn when a devastating trap leaves the pirate coalition in tatters and the pirate leaders scattered. Governor Woodes Rogers celebrates his triumph but knows he cannot rest easy whilst his defences remain shattered and Flint, John Silver and Blackbeard are still at large. The two factions continue to jockey for position, seeking out unlikely allies and determined to win the struggle, no matter the cost.

The secret to the success of Black Sails has been in its joyous mixture of bawdy action with intriguing politics, against a semi-historical backdrop and related through superbly-played, relatably human characters. For three seasons, the writers kept up a constantly-shifting patchwork of alliances of convenience and the balancing of short-term pragmatism against long-term ambitions, and did so with finesse and skill.

In its fourth and final season, Black Sails does nearly stumble in its last dance. We've seen so many betrayals, treacherous sneak attacks and unexpected reversals that seeing a bunch more risks becoming predictable. The real enemy is trying to undercut the pirates by making Silver and Flint turn on one another? Is it Tuesday again? Long-term strategic success is endangered by small-time villains who can't see beyond the end of the week? We've been here before, several times, and the returns are starting to diminish.

At least, this is the problem that blights the first half of the season. The second half, with the writers fully aware the end is in sight, sees them ratcheting up the tension superbly. Breaks in trust are now irrevocable, reversals can see major characters dead rather than imprisoned or wounded, and the stakes have been raised so high by both sides (with Rogers even willing to commit treason to get what he wants) that there is no possibility of quarter or forgiveness. The show even remembers its original pitch as a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island, as events in the back half of the season begin to converge on the opening of the book.

As usual, the cast does absolutely exceptional work. Toby Stephens has been superb throughout but reaches new levels in the buildup to the finale, whilst Luke Arnold and Tom Hopper, who started off very much in his shadow, are now his equals. Bear McCreary's soundtrack is superb, the CG teams continue to orchestrate stunning Master and Commander-beating naval battles on a far tinier budget and overall the production remains impressive.

Apart from a couple of repetitive storylines its opening episodes, the final season of Black Sails (****½) maintains the quality of the previous seasons through to the end. It has been common to compare Black Sails to Game of Thrones due to their mutual marriage of impressive action to compelling characters and intriguingly murky politics, but ultimately Black Sails overhauls its fantasy forebear by doing what it could not: sticking the landing and delivering a finale worthy of any number of mixed metaphors. The show is available to watch via Amazon Prime in the UK and in the USA via Starz.

Black Sails: Season 3

Following their betrayal in Charles Town, Flint and the crew of the Walrus have embarked on a bloody campaign of retribution against pirate-chasers and magistrates along the coast of the New World and in the islands, sparking widespread anger in England. An enterprising and ambitious British expedition to retake Nassau is launched, whilst the formidable Edward Teach - the infamous Blackbeard - returns to the island to resume his friendship with Charles Vane.

Following the bloody carnage which ended Season 2 of Black Sails, the third season opens with a much more wide-ranging and ambitious storyline, one that ranges from London to the coast of North America and back to the Bahamas, taking in events from before the show began (revolving around Teach and Hornigold) as well as pushing the story forwards more definitively.

The result is yet another extremely strong season for the show, being one that is rooted in superb character development, some remarkable action setpieces (the writers gaining confidence that the CG can deliver the epic naval battles they're asking for) and some great storytelling. In the storm sequences in the second episode, the show breaks new ground in the level of production value that can be expected from TV shows.

There are a few issues. It takes a long time for the crew of the Walrus to get involved in the action back in Nassau, part of the problem of having established Flint and Silver as such formidable protagonists that the audience would have a hard time believing they couldn't deal with any problem that emerged, but also needing them to get back in the fight quickly and having a realistic shot at dealing with overwhelming ods. The result is some wheel-spinning and convenience (the arrival of an experience pirate warship and a ready-made army of ex-slaves feels a bit too easy), which the show quickly bounces back from.

Black Sails steps up a notch in its final episodes, not being afraid to axe major, long-running characters and ramping up the stakes and tension to a new degree. The new castmembers, particularly the mighty Ray Stevenson (Rome) as Blackbeard and Luke Roberts (a brief but memorable turn as Ser Arthur Dayne in Game of Thrones) as the British commander Woodes Rogers, are excellent and help broaden the scope of the show to its benefit.

Season 3 of Black Sails (****½) might be, by a hair, the strongest season of the show. It balances fine character work with exceptional action and politics with practicalities. The show is available to watch via Amazon Prime in the UK and in the USA via Starz.

Black Sails: Season 2

Captain Flint and the crew of the heavily-damaged Walrus have located the Spanish treasure ship Urca de Lima. Unfortunately, a heavily-armed Spanish garrison stands guard over the gold, forcing Flint to consider an alliance with other parties in Nassau to secure the prize. Meanwhile, in Nassau the town is rocked when Charles Vane and his men seize control of the fort that defends the harbour, putting Eleanor Guthrie into an uncomfortable position as she tries to navigate treacherous waters between her former lover and the welfare of the community.

The first season of Black Sails started off as Game of Thrones meets Master and Commander, mixing the character drama and sex of the former against the nautical attention to detail and striking production values of the latter, before forging its own path. The show's strength was telling a plethora of gripping storylines simultaneously, mixing politics, war, criminal enterprises and the idea of nation-building, and how even desperate criminals yearn, on some level, for civilisation.

The second season continues in much the same vein. Once again, the series focuses on Captain Flint's obsession with seizing a prize so vast it defies imagining, but finds it difficult to find allies who share in his vision, or men patient enough to forego other, shorter-term profits in favour of a larger goal. Fortunately, the series dials down the intensity of the first season a bit, where Flint was put in an almost impossible position by the end of the run. The second season rows things back to put him back in command with less risk of the crew turning mutinous every five minutes. It doesn't do this artificially and instead has a solid arc spanning the first few episodes reaffirming the crew's loyalty to Flint, which also causes John Silver to rise to the fore. Tensions over Flint's command continue, but in a more believable fashion.

Elsewhere the show continues to sprawl indolently over many storylines, some personal (the complex relationship between Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny and Max) and others political (such as the struggle for control of Nassau Fort). Most striking is a flashback story where we follow Flint's personal history, his relationship with Lord and Lady Hamilton and his descent from law-abiding naval officer to pirate.

There aren't too many problems with the second season of Black Sails (****½), although the ferocious pace of the first season (which only had eight episodes to work with) is lessened somewhat here with two more episodes to fill, but the stories and character arcs expand well enough to fill the extra time. The production values remain highly impressive, the actors are superb (Max's occasionally overworked accent being perhaps a slight flaw, but the actress is so good it's hardly an issue) and the storytelling is compulsively enjoyable. The show is available to watch via Amazon Prime in the UK and in the USA via Starz.

Black Sails: Season 1

1715, the West Indies. The feared pirate Captain Flint captures a cargo ship and recruits one of its surviving crewmembers, John Silver, as a cook. The way of life for the pirates, operating out of the port of Nassau, is threatened by British imperial ambitions in the region and the growing power of the American colonies to the north. Flint hits on an ambitious plan to enrich himself and his crew forever, and to give the governess of Nassau, Eleanor Guthrie, the means by which to give the island and the city its freedom. But his plan is dangerous and reckless, and many on both the island and his own crew plot to stop him from endangering them all.

Black Sails is a four-season show airing on the Starz network in the USA from 2014 to 2017. It was part of the post-Game of Thrones new wave of "Golden Age of Television" dramas, readily identifiable by a veritable overload of sex in the first season, although the show does calm down and starts exploring the characters and storylines in more detail and becomes a much more compelling character drama.

Season 1 sets up the basic premise: the series is based on the island of New Providence in the Bahamas. The port of Nassau stands as a base of operations for multiple pirate crews, most notably the Walrus under Captain Flint and the Ranger under Captain Charles Vane. The pirates' way of life is profitable but fragile; Nassau was a British colony that's descended into lawlessness and the pirates fear the return of the British in force. Eleanor Guthrie rules Nassau as governess, but her authority is fragile and reliant on the cooperation of the crews, something that has been less certain since she broke off a relationship with Captain Vane. Captain Flint proposes a grand endeavour, the capture of the largest Spanish treasure galleon afloat with enough money to make every crewmember in the attempt rich and to help secure Nassau's future independence. However, Flint's methods of maintaining secrecy (including killing those whom he believes are security risks) alienates several key members of his crew, who plot a mutiny, whilst Eleanor's authority is tested by both her father (who helps sell the pirates ill-gotten gains in the American colonies, where fewer questions are asked) and various interlopers.

The first season tells a multitude of stories simultaneously: Flint's efforts to seize the Spanish galleon and keep his command (and head); John Silver ingratiating himself with the crew of the Walrus; William "Billy Bones" Manderly fighting a battle between his personal loyalty to Flint and his responsibility to the Walrus crew; Vane's attempts to win back Eleanor and build himself a power base; Eleanor's attempts to maintain order and her authority in Nassau; Jack Rackham's attempts to secure himself and his lover a future on the island when their initial fortunes turn sour; the fortunes of a prostitute named Max as she attempts to win herself greater power and authority; and the attempts by former slave turned freeman Mr. Scott to protect his employer Eleanor, sometimes from her own worst instincts. There's a lot going on in the first season of Black Sails and this works to the show's benefit.The writing is good enough to balance the different storylines and characters out and allows the stories to all move forwards at a fair old clip. Even in this Era of Binge, Black Sails is more bingeable than most shows, delivering a plethora of splendid character stories, larger geo-political concerns and occasional soap opera-ish elements that makes it a compelling drama.

The cast is exceptional, especially Toby Stephens as the determined but perhaps overly-paranoid Captain Flint and Luke Arnold as the young and callow "Long" John Silver (whom we know is destined for infamy, but at this point is an overconfident and callow youth). Also superb as Tom Hopper as Billy Bones, Jessica Parker Kennedy as Max and Hannah New as Eleanor Guthrie, with Zach McGowan putting in an appropriately steely performance as Charles Vane and Hakeem Kae-Kazim providing substantial gravitas as Mr. Scott. There isn't a weak link in the cast.

In terms of the history, the show isn't trying to be a docudrama but it does illustrate and complicate some of the cliches about the Golden Age of Piracy. It shows captains ruling their crews mostly through agreement, with votes being held on key decisions. The depiction of pirate captains as tyrants is illogical (since crews would simply kill a tyrannical captain or leave the ship the next time they hit port) and the show does a great job of showing the tricky balancing act captains had in maintaining their authority. There's also a good depiction of how a complex balance of power exists between Britain, France, Spain, Portugal and their colonies in the New World, with the pirates caught in the middle and only existing because these powers have not been able to divert enough resources to stamp them out altogether. The show delves into a number of other themes, like the role of women in pirate society (including the depiction of real historical figures like Anne Bonny) and the transatlantic slave trade (with the last couple of episodes of the first season going into the issue in some detail).

Black Sails does have a few weaknesses in its first season. There's a few under-explored character beats which makes understanding the motivations of key characters a bit more difficult than it should be, particularly of Flint (extensive flashbacks in Season 2 do resolve these issues, however). Budgetary considerations means a lot more action happens on land then perhaps you'd expect in a pirate drama, although when the shot does start flying and the cutlasses clashing, no expense is spared. The CGI used for major sea battles can be a bit variable (players of Empire: Total War may experience some flashbacks) but for the most part is very impressive. Some may also find the prevalence of female nudity a bit tiresome, but as the show retreats from its initial "Game of Thrones meets Master and Commander" setup (favouring the latter more than the former, admirably) and forges its own identity, that also becomes less of a problem.

Season 1 of Black Sails (****½) hits a few minor problems on its way out of drydock, but otherwise is an excellent, enjoyable and addictive drama. It is available to watch in the UK via Amazon Prime and in the USA via Starz.

Production of AMERICAN GODS Season 2 in turmoil (again)

The troubled production of the second season of American Gods has somehow managed to get even more troubled.

To rewind a little, Fremantle Studios bought the rights to Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel American Gods several years ago. After developing the project at HBO with Gaiman involved as head writer, HBO chose not to proceed (surprisingly late in the day). Fremantle took the script to Starz. Starz greenlit the project, managing to win the services of the much-in-demand Bryan Fuller and producing partner Michael Green to work as showrunners and head writers on the project. Gaiman continued to be involved closely as an active producer.

Early tensions apparently emerged when it became clear that Fuller and Green had their own vision for the project, which was not quite in keeping with Gaiman's. Gaiman wanted a close adaptation of his novel, whilst Fuller and Green wanted something slower-paced and more like a magic realist fable, with complex visual dream sequences and flashbacks, some incorporating elements from Gaiman's other stories in the same setting and others completely original. Starz, who were funding the project to the tune of $7 million per episode, sided with Fuller and Green, and Gaiman and Fremantle's preferences were shut out. Executive producer Stefanie Burk, however, was able to keep the two factions talking to each other.

Despite this tension, the production of the first season of American Gods went relatively smoothly until fairly late in the day, when Starz began to get alarmed over the rising costs. They slashed two episodes from the season's length in an effort stop the overruns. Once filming was concluded, they allowed Fuller and Green to complete post-production, at which point it became clear that the season had gone $30 million - the equivalent of over four full episodes - over-budget. This may rank as one of the biggest overspends in television history, but fortunately Amazon swept in and saved the day by spending a huge amount of money on buying the international broadcasting rights to the series, dwarfing the overspend and putting Starz back into profit.

Apparently a meeting was held where Starz agreed to keep Fuller and Green on board, with the firm understanding that such a cost overrun could not happen again. A second season was ordered, this time for 10 episodes, and the budget was increased to $10 million an episode, making American Gods the third-most-expensive show on air (after only Game of Thrones and The Crown). Not long after this agreement, however, Fuller and Green presented the scripts for the first six episodes of the season to Starz and it was clear this budget was going to be insufficient. With Fuller and Green refusing to make needed cuts, they were fired from the show.

Jess Alexander was brought in to replace them as showrunner and head writer. Alexander was a close friend of Neil Gaiman's, but had also worked closely with Fuller on Star Trek: Discovery and Hannibal. Although he wouldn't be on-set (as he was showrunning the Good Omens project in the UK), Gaiman agreed to take a more direct involvement on the second season, making bigger decisions. The general feel was that Gaiman and Alexander would hew the TV show closer to the novel whilst maintaining the spirit and feel of the first season but without breaking the bank. To this end, they also dumped Fuller and Green's scripts for Season 2, preferring to start from scratch.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, trying to wear all these caps simultaneously proved impossible. Actors complained of the quality of scripts compared to the first season, with actor Ian McShane apparently coming up with better dialogue by himself on set (leading to alleged "screaming matches" with Alexander). Starz demanded hefty rewrites to Alexander's scripts. To make things worse, actress Gillian Anderson had quit over Fuller's firing and producer Stefanie Burk had left the company altogether, removing a key moderating influence on set.

To try to salvage things, Starz have slashed the episode count (again) to eight and have reportedly now sidelined Jesse Alexander after being hugely unsatisfied with his script for the season finale, promoting supervising producer Chris Byrne and line producer Lisa Kussner to the showrunning position as an interim measure (to put two junior producers into such a role is extraordinary).

Exactly how Starz will get the show back on track remains to be seen. They have, however, indicated that the media reports are overblown and are promising to drop a trailer for Season 2 in a few weeks to restore some faith in proceedings. Star Ricky Whittle, meanwhile, has also said that reports of chaos on set are in error.

American Gods is expected to return to the screen in early 2019, one way or another.

ASH VS. EVIL DEAD cancelled

Starz have cancelled Ash vs. Evil Dead after three seasons, citing low ratings.

The TV series began in 2015 as both a reboot of Sam Raimi's iconic horror-comedy movie trilogy starring Bruce Campbell and a sequel to it, picking up the action twenty-three years later with Campbell's character Ash having to battle the forces of evil. The first season resurrected the horror-comedy stylings of Army of Darkness very satisfyingly, whilst the second season remarkably upped its game and became as much about psychological horror (particularly the exceptional asylum story arc and the scenes directly referencing the original, less-humorous movie) and homage to other horror properties. The second season was outstanding...right up until the last episode when producer Robert Tapert rather abruptly ousted effective showrunner Craig DiGregorio in a behind-the-scenes power struggle and rewrote the finale so it no longer made sense.

I haven't seen Season 3 yet, but the season has picked up a much patchier critical reception so far than the first two seasons did, with accompanying plummeting ratings.

On the one hand, it is regrettable that we won't see Bruce Campbell chainsawing his way through hordes of deadites any more (at least in the short term; don't rule out future movies), but on the other hand it's hard to complain when just three years ago it looked like there'd be no more Evil Dead, ever, and now we have 30 episodes totalling some 15 hours of further hijinks for Bruce Campbell and his chin, at least two-thirds of which were pretty damn good.

I suspect that the low ratings were only partially to blame. The behind the scenes shenanigans were likely not helping the situation either, and Starz misstepped by not teaming with someone like Amazon or Netflix for international distribution. The show's presence in the UK only as a Virgin cable exclusive likely contributed to its poor viewership over here.

You can't keep a good chin down and I wouldn't be surprised to see Ash and the Evil Dead rise again at some point in the future. But for now, the Necronomicon has been closed.

American Gods: Season 1

Shadow Moon is released from prison but finds his life is not what he thought it was: his wife has been killed in a car accident, driving with her lover. Strange things are happening across America and at the centre of it is the old man enigmatically known as “Mr. Wednesday.” When Mr. Wednesday offers Shadow a job, Shadow accepts and finds himself drawn into a struggle older and weirder than he can possibly understand. 

Based on Neil Gaiman’s 2001 novel, American Gods is a lush, eight-part drama which adapts roughly a third of the book. Given the book is only about 500 pages long, this is fairly generous and results in the first season have a relaxed, even languid pace. This is one of the show’s strengths but also its Achilles heel.

There is much to enjoy about this series, including the absolutely fantastic cast. Everyone, from seasoned hands like Ian McShane and Gillian Anderson to relative newcomers, are exceptional. The direction is also unusually striking to behold. Visually, American Gods may be the most gorgeous-looking television show ever made. There’s some stirring and powerfully effective imagery, whilst the colour grading, the framing of the shots, the movie-worthy cinematography and the generous and frequent use of CG to enhance the story are all stunning, as is the clever and imaginative opening title sequence. The show’s use of music, both original and licensed, is remarkable and often inventive (also occasionally bombastic and sometimes drowns out the dialogue, most notably during the major climactic moment of the finale).

The writing and pacing is where the show falters. Many modern shows make the mistake of trying to be relentless and constantly in a rush to get anywhere, often falling short (especially if you’re a Marvel show on Netflix trying to stretch 6 episodes’ worth of actual plot across 13 hours) or achieving that at the expense of character development or atmosphere. American Gods goes the other way, devoting an entire hour to the backstory of one of the major characters, visiting major episodes from their life and establishing their backstory in admirable depth. However, later on it dedicates a second episode to the backstory of that character’s great-great-great-great (etc) grandmother, in a well-written and enjoyable segment which doesn’t seem to add much to the overall storyline. It’s nice that the show can take time out to do this sort of thing, but it saps the show of momentum and energy. Compared to most “binge-worthy” shows, I felt no need to consume American Gods quickly and instead watched it over the course of several weeks. Not every show needs to be a sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat or nail-biting thriller, but American Gods goes in the opposite direction and is so laidback that it keeps falling asleep.

The narrative structure is also unsatisfying. Adapting one-third of a novel means that the show has a great opening, but it constantly interrupts the story of Wednesday, Shadow and the other protagonists to pursue tangents (most of them interesting, some consequential, others not) and then peters out at the end. There is a major climactic moment, but it’s more of a pause than a cliffhanger. Fortunately, there will be a second season (probably airing in mid-2019) with a major creative and writing reshuffle that will hopefully address some of these problems.

Still, it’s hard to argue with a show that gives an actor as great as Ian McShane such fantastic material to work with and one that confirms Ricky Whittle as one of the rising stars of television (it’s entertaining as a Brit to see how far he’s come since his days on soap opera Hollyoaks). It’s also great to see Crispin Glover, Pablo Schreiber and Emily Browning on such good form as well.

The first season of American Gods (***½) is lush, beautiful to look at, well-acted and atmospheric. It’s also slow, occasionally so slow as to approach inertness, and lacks tension. This is a fine wine to enjoy slowly and surely rather than a relentless sprint to the finish, and a slightly confusing show which inspires many mixed metaphors. The first season of American Gods is available now on DVD (UK, USA) and Blu-Ray (UK, USA), and is also available on Amazon Prime Video in the UK.

AMERICAN GODS gets new showrunner, reason for Bryan Fuller's departure revealed

Starz's adaptation of American Gods has gotten a new showrunner in the form of Jesse Alexander. Alexander worked alongside outgoing producer-showrunner Bryan Fuller on both Hannibal and Star Trek: Discovery and Starz seem to be hoping he can keep some of Fuller's magic on the show. More encouragingly, Neil Gaiman is taking a more hands-on role on Season 2 of the show, apparently with the plan (backed by Starz) of getting the show to hew closer to the novel.

The Hollywood Reporter also has the skinny on why Fuller left the show between seasons. Season 1 went a mind-boggling $30 million over-budget. American Gods was already one of the most expensive shows on television, with a budget well north of $7 million per episode, so this overrun must have caused massive consternation at Starz. On top of this overrun, Fuller was also demanding a substantial budget increase for Season 2 above the extra $2 million per episode (taking the show to $9 million per episode, potentially making American Gods the third-most-expensive show on-air, behind only Game of Thrones and The Crown) already agreed with Starz. Apparently there was a logjam exacerbated by the possibility that Season 2 might not air until two years or more after Season 1.

Fuller has moved on and is now in talks to helm a TV adaptation of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. Gaiman and Alexander's remit now seems to be getting American Gods done within the confines of its already-generous budget and on a much more frequent timescale than had previously been planned. All going well, Starz hope to air the second season of American Gods in January or February 2019, providing there are no further setbacks.

The impact of the Amazon/Tolkien deal on the WHEEL OF TIME TV show

The news broke last night that Amazon are in talks with Warner Brothers about making a big-budget TV series based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, despite the perception that Peter Jackson's movie trilogy is too recent and a remake at this time is unnecessary. What's been less reported is how this will impact on Sony's TV version of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time novels, which were widely expected would end up at Amazon.

To rewind, in April 2017 it was confirmed that Sony TV had optioned the rights to The Wheel of Time in a complex deal involving the Robert Jordan Estate (aka the Bandersnatch Group) and Red Eagle Entertainment. A few months earlier it was heavily rumoured that Amazon were seriously considering making the series, as Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos is a huge fan of SF and fantasy in general (he had a cameo in the latest Star Trek movie, Beyond) and - apparently - Wheel of Time is one of his favourite book series. Amazon also recently reorganised their TV production division, cancelling several smaller shows and Bezos mandating the acquisition of a big-budget SFF project to compete with Game of Thrones on HBO. Wheel of Time was a no-brainer for this treatment.

However, seven months after Sony confirmed it had optioned the book rights, no production partner has been confirmed. Although not completely unusual - many years between optioning a property and greenlighting it is not unheard of - it was expected that studios would move quickly to snatch up the rights to a property that could comfortably go toe-to-toe with Game of Thrones in terms of epic scenes, number of characters and scale. Now it appears we know why there's been radio silence: Warner Brothers have been (quietly) shopping around their new Lord of the Rings TV project around at the same time. Although studios appear to be dubious about making a new LotR screen project so soon after Jackson's film series, they are also weighing carefully the benefits of picking up a much more well-known franchise which would get a lot of viewers from the off.

This leaves The Wheel of Time TV project in an awkward place. WoT was - comfortably - the biggest and most successful epic fantasy series not currently under an option, so it had a degree of brand value in the marketplace. With Middle-earth in play, that is no longer the case and the problems of adapting Wheel - its immense visual effects requirements, high budget and the challenges of adapting 14 books totalling 4 million words (eight times the length of Lord of the Rings) in a reasonable timeframe - may have come into greater focus.

It's worth looking now at the channels and broadcasters who may be in the running to adapt WoT and see how likely they are to follow through:

Amazon

Amazon are in deep discussion with Warner Brothers over the LotR TV show and Jeff Bezos is a noted fan of the books. He is personally involved in negotiations. They are clearly taking this approach very seriously. However, they have not committed yet. WB are asking for an astonishing amount of money up-front (totalling a third of a billion dollars) and are not bringing anything new to the table. Only The Lord of the Rings is on offer, with perhaps a possibility of The Hobbit as well, but none of Tolkien's other Middle-earth books are included in the deal, so no new material can be brought to the screen that hasn't been adapted previously. Although the deal is tempting, Amazon will likely have to weight up the benefits of the brand name and value versus the likely criticisms they will get for not going for a more original project.

If Amazon passes on LotR I could see them picking up WoT. This is a new project (for the screen) but also one that will last easily six or seven seasons (at least) and they can cross-market the show with the books and other merchandise. Amazon also appear to be the only company in the running who can stump up the significant budget that Wheel of Time will require. However, I strongly suspect that they will be more inclined to go with LotR if they can make the finances work.

HBO

HBO have already shot down the LotR project, citing their ongoing commitment to Game of Thrones and its in-development spin-offs. I think we can comfortably say that if they're not going to pick up LotR, they're not going to pick up Wheel of Time either. HBO are now 100% out of the picture.

Showtime

Showtime have committed to Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicle prequel TV show. Until this project succeeds or fails, Showtime are also unlikely to seriously consider Wheel of Time.

AMC

Sony and AMC have an excellent prior relationship from Breaking Bad and I suspect AMC will be seriously considering the advantages of adapting Wheel of Time to add to their enviable SFF programming, which currently includes The Walking Dead and Preacher. However, AMC's preferred business model has them making shows for a very, very low budget and just making them look impressive, allowing them to maximise profits. They have already faced heavy criticism for the shoestring budget that The Walking Dead is made under, despite the show's massive global success. It is unlikely that AMC would give The Wheel of Time the $6-7 million per episode budget it will need as a minimal starting point. Still, AMC may still be in the picture if they can be persuaded to loosen the pursestrings.

Starz

Starz are also enjoying a spectacular surge in genre programming, with both Outlander and American Gods doing very well. Wheel of Time would be an enviable addition to their lineup, and Starz certainly are prepared to spend more money than AMC. They may be tempted to take another look at Wheel of Time if Amazon are now out of the picture.

FX

FX have been quietly building a slate of excellent shows recently, including Fargo, Legion, American Horror Story, Archer, The Americans and Atlanta. A high-budget, high-profile fantasy show is precisely what they are missing, and they also aired Red Eagle's proof-of-concept Wheel of Time pilot thing a couple of years ago, for which they received a lot of interest from viewers.

CBS

I'd previously dismissed CBS as being a likely home for the show, since their budgets for network shows are pretty small. Since then, however, they've launched the CBS All Access platform and achieved significant success with Star Trek: Discovery, which has a budget of $7 million per episode. If CBS wish to maintain momentum with the All Access project they will need another high-profile killer app, and Wheel of Time could well be it.

SyFy

SyFy has achieved some success with the TV show The Expanse, but has recently cancelled several shows and their bandwidth for making lots of big-budget shows at once is limited. I consider SyFy to have only an outside shot at the moment.

Netflix

Netflix would seem like a very probability on the list. They have developed a portfolio of shows, but they don't yet have an epic fantasy show to go toe-to-toe with GoT. It would seem likely that they would be interested. However, Netflix have gotten into significant debt to deliver their current slate of of shows and have axed expensive series such as Sense8 and House of Cards (it was widely reported that the sixth season would be the final one even before they axed Kevin Spacey) in favour of much cheaper programming, such as GLOW and American Vandal. Although Netflix's overall programming budget is increasing, the amount they are willing to pay per-show is definitely decreasing (although they have noted this may increase again, and certainly Stranger Things is not a cheap show to make). Wheel of Time would likely remain of interest to them, however, and if they decide a new high-profile show is needed they would likely stump up more money.

ETA: Netflix are developing a TV series based on The Witcher video games and books by Andrzej Sapkowksi, which likely would reduce their interest in another top-tier fantasy show.

Conclusion

The Amazon/LotR discussions are troubling to Wheel of Time fans as they would seem to shut down the most logical pairing of network and project. However, other networks remain in play. I would say at the moment that Starz, AMC and FX may now all be more likelier destinations for the project, with CBS All Access and Netflix as outsider players. If Amazon choose not to proceed with LotR, I suspect they would also take another look at Wheel of Time.

More concerning will be oversaturation of the market: if, by 2021 or thereabouts, we have a Kingkiller Chronicle TV show, a GoTspin-off (or two), a Lord of the Rings TV series and additional seasons of Shannara and American Gods all on air at the same time, it might be felt that further fantasy series would be redundant. As usual, time will tell.

Starz release full trailer for AMERICAN GODS

Starz have released a full trailer for the first season of American Gods, based on Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel of the same name.

The eight-part series debuts on Starz on 30 April. The first season will cover approximately one-third of the novel, with the rest (and possible adaptations of the novel Anansi Boys and the short stories "Monarch of the Glen" and "Black Dog", as well as the unwritten American Gods II) to follow in succeeding seasons.

AMERICAN GODS gets an airdate

The TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman's American Gods has now gotten an air date.

The eight-episode first season debuts on Sunday 30 April on Starz in the United States. It will air the following day on Amazon in the UK.

Ash vs. Evil Dead: Season 2

Ash Williams and his team-mates Pablo and Kelly have forged a truce with Ruby, the creator of the Necronomicon, and gone on holiday to Jacksonville. However, Ruby's fellow evil forces have reneged on the deal, forcing Ruby to reluctantly seek out Ash and join forces with him. They return to Ash's home town of Elk Grove to confront and destroy Ruby's "children", but in the process inadvertently unleash the evil forces of of the demon Baal.

Ash vs. Evil Dead's first season was very much just what fans of the movies were hoping for: a carnage-strewn action-comedy vehicle that allowed Bruce Campbell to do what he's best at, killing monsters and cracking wise. It improved on that by introducing a team of supporting characters and actors who could also handle themselves and call Ash on his outdated, stereotypical viewpoints, whilst still ensuring that the heroic appeal of the character remained intact.

It would have been easy to do more of the same in Season 2, but the producers have cleverly evolved the premise. Taking Ash back to his home town where he is still blamed for the carnage from the first two Evil Dead movies, even by his deadbeat dad (a masterfully-cast Lee Majors, the Bionic Man himself), is a good move which expands on Ash's backstory and reveals more of how he ended up being the way he is. There's also a lot more inventiveness in the scripts, and a willingness to engage with other horror films. A Christine-influenced subplot has Ash and his friends being menaced by Ash's own car, whilst another episode riffs on Assault on Precinct 13, with Ash and some of the suspicious townsfolk trapped in a police station and under siege from evil forces.

Another episode sees Ash wake up in a mental hospital and having to confront the possibility that everything he thinks has happened is actually the result of a psychotic breakdown. Of course, that would be lame but the producers go all-out in this particular instalment, adopting a different shooting style and forcing the actors to up their game of dramatic intensity.

Events eventually lead - thanks to Ash spontaneously remembering the ability of the Necronomicon to travel through time (for copyright reasons Army of Darkness could not be referenced in Season 1, but is fair game in Season 2) - back to the cabin in the woods and a lot of callbacks to the first two movies. This is only partially successful, with some great riffs on the old material, but it does go on a bit long and the story takes a weird turn at the end. Behind-the-scenes drama, including showrunner Craig DiGregorio quitting after another producer interfered and rewrote the finale, is to blame for this. It remains to be seen if Season 3 can maintain the same standards now the creative team has changed.

The second season of Ash vs. Evil Dead (****) builds satisfyingly on the promise of the first season. It's even more inventive, willing to be more original and challenge the actors with more interesting material. It's even more bloody and even more disgusting, and some fans may be less keen on a dialling back of the comedy elements in favour of the horror (particularly towards the end of the season), but overall it's a highly watchable and extremely gory slice of entertainment.

Bryan Fuller spills more info on AMERICAN GODS and STAR TREK: DISCOVERY

Nerd World Report have a lengthy interview with Bryan Fuller, the producer/showrunner behind both Starz's American Gods and CBS's Star Trek: Discovery.

Fuller packs in a fair bit of info from both shows, including:

American Gods

The first, nine-episode season will cover roughly a quarter of Neil Gaiman's novel. A major and infamous event involving the goddess Bilquis will be in Episode 1.

Bryan Fuller read the novel of American Gods about a year after it was originally published, so was a fan of the book a long time before the TV show was conceived.


Star Trek: Discovery

The show opens with a two-part episode. Part 1 is co-written by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman and Part 2 is written by Nicholas Meyer.

The main character is nicknamed "Number One" in honour of Majel Barrett's character from the original Star Trek pilot, The Cage, but isn't exactly the same character.

It's not fully decided yet if the show will have a totally new score or will pay tribute to music from previous series.

Originally the series was conceived as being able to take place in either the original (or "Prime") timeline or the Abramsverse (aka "Kelvin Timeline"). Kurtzman and Fuller settled on the Prime timeline because it meant they didn't have to track what was going on in the movies and vice versa (although I suspect the legal issues played their part as well).

Both shows are being shot in Toronto, with American Gods wrapping up production shortly and Star Trek: Discovery now in pre-production. Both shows are expected to air in early 2017.

First trailer for AMERICAN GODS released

Starz have unveiled the first trailer for American Gods, their upcoming TV series based on Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel.

American Gods hits Starz in early 2017.

Gillian Anderson joins the cast of AMERICAN GODS

Starz have confirmed that Gillian Anderson has joined the cast of American Gods, its TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel about forgotten deities trying to survive in modern America.

Anderson will be playing the new goddess Media, who takes the form of celebrities and lives off the attention people give to their televisions, computer screens and smartphones.

American Gods recently began filming and will likely air in early 2017 on Starz. The series also stars Ricky Whittle as Shadow and Ian McShane as Mr. Wednesday.

AMERICAN GODS enters production

American Gods has formally begun production in Toronto. The cast and crew held a first read-through a couple of days ago with producers Michael Green, David Slade and Bryan Fuller attending. The only confirmed castmembers present were Ian McShane as Mr. Wednesday and Ricky Whittle as Shadow. Prior to the readthrough, one of the production team created an ad hoc logo in the snow on the street outside.

Filming on the show begins imminently, for transmission on Starz later this year.

Ian McShane cast as Mr. Wednesday on AMERICAN GODS

Ian McShane has landed the role of Mr. Wednesday on Starz's TV version of Neil Gaiman's American Gods.

McShane is - of course - best-known in the UK for playing lovable rogue antiques dealer (yes, this was A Thing) on Lovejoy and in the USA for playing foul-mouthed barkeep/politician/pimp Al Swearengen (a real person) on HBO's Deadwood. We'll see him in action shortly in Season 6 of Game of Thrones, playing Septon Meribald (or a very similar character to the one in the novels).

McShane will star opposite Ricky Whittle, who will be playing the protagonist Shadow. The series starts shooting in a next few weeks, to debut in late 2016 or early 2017.

Meanwhile, McShane has let slip a rather massive spoiler about his role on Game of Thrones (spoiler at the link), as well as confirming that he will be playing the role of Septon Meribald from the books (although HBO's refusal to confirm that makes me wonder if the character will be renamed).

The SF and Fantasy novels currently being developed for the screen

After a glut of recent news, here's a list of all the science fiction and fantasy novels, short stories and novellas which are currently being developed for the screen. Natalie Zutter's article for Tor.com from last year was a helpful reference point for this post. Please follow after the break (this is a very long article).

AMERICAN GODS names its lead actor

The Starz TV adaptation of American Gods has found its leading man. British actor Ricky Whittle will play the role of Shadow in Neil Gaiman's story about ancient gods existing in the modern United States.

Whittle rose to prominence on British television, most notably a lengthy stint on Hollyoaks and a turn on reality TV show Strictly Come Dancing as well as roles on Dream Team and Holby City. He then moved to Hollywood and for the past three seasons has played the recurring role of Lincoln on the excellent CW adventure series The 100, as well as appearing on Single Ladies, Housewives and NCIS. He has appeared in two films, Losing Sam and Austenland.

American Gods is based on the Neil Gaiman novel of the same name, although it will also incorporate original storylines and elements from Gaiman's other planned stories in the same universe. The Starz series is expected to shoot this year for a possible 2017 debut.