Preview: American Gods

BY: Matt Elisofon

Based on Neil Gaiman’s best-selling novel of the same name, American Gods tells a fantastic tale about ancient deities walking the United States as mere mortals. And while the novel is complete fantasy, the divide between the old gods (Norse gods such as Odin) and the new ones (Tech and Media) seems less and less farfetched in a country that appears more divided every day. Even Gaiman agrees, telling WIRED, “If anything, I feel like I was writing about stuff that was in the wind, and the wind has just been concentrating over the past twenty years.”

The story kicks off when ex-con Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) hooks up with Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane), who reveals himself to be not only the Norse god Odin, but a confidence man who attempts to con and manipulate all of the other old gods in order to divide the country and wreak havoc (sound familiar?).

In case these themes aren’t provocative enough, American Gods will start out with a sex scene like no other: in the pilot episode, Bilquis (Yetide Badaki), a goddess who gains power through her sexual encounters, has discovered Internet dating. When her date gets lucky, it becomes immediately clear that the opposite is true—because Bilquis literally devours him with her vagina (she probably didn’t include Orgasm of Death on her Tinder profile). We won’t have to wait long to see this horrific hookup, because American Gods premieres in April. Oh gods be praised!