After confirmation that Neil Gaiman's masterpiece "American Gods" is indeed in development as a TV show for Starz, fans are quick to search which Hollywood actor will fit the burly lead character, Shadow. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson seems to perfectly fit the bill, will the "Furious 7" star join the cast?
In a report by DenOfGeek, multi-awarded author Neil Gaiman revealed during the Edinburgh Book Festival the casting details for the TV show adaptation of his 2001 novel, "American Gods." Speaking about the developments of "American Gods" TV show, Gaiman said "Shadow is of mixed race and I wanted to find an actor who has that thing going."
"An actor who turned up after 'American Gods' was written and, if he hadn't have become huge would have been perfect, was Dwayne 'the Rock' Johnson because he has this huge bulk, and doesn't look terribly smart - which is one of the fun things about Shadow: he's smarter than people assume," added Gaiman.
Showrunner Bryan Fuller shared in the same report, "I want to keep races and nationalities. I don't want it to become softened and homogenised, and I want it to be prickly."
Meanwhile, another character is set to be casted that is essential to the "American Gods" universe and it is no less than Mr. Wednesday. In the novel, Mr. Wednesday becomes the employer of Shadow after the latter is released from prison. He gives off an Al Pacino-like feel to the story, more of a godfather touch to the character Shadow.
The same report reveals that while developers of "American Gods" may have set their sights on a possible cast for Mr. Wednesday, this actor too might cost the production a hefty price as does the addition of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson into the show.
In an earlier interview via Screenrant, Fuller shared details about announcing casting for the upcoming TV show "American Gods." He said, "Neil [Gaiman's] plan-and Neil's very internet savvy-what Neil would like to do is cast Laura and Shadow and Wednesday and Mad Sweeney and Bilquis, because Bilquis will be a major character in the show, and the Technical Boy and then trot them all out on-stage at a Comic-Con coming up."
"That's his plan. He's saying 'I don't want to make any casting announcements, I want to announce the cast in full when they walk out on stage at a Comic-Con.'"
